Jazz. It's divided the world since the beginning of the 20th Century. Like Marmite, you either love it or hate it, indeed I heard that Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue album was the jazz album that non-jazz fans would like. I'm a non-jazz fan and didn't like it. But! This album from North London's Amy Winehouse could just help create a third opinion on jazz: "I don't mind it".

SO WHO IS SHE?
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She's a 20 year old singer from North London with impeccable timing. Her emergence has coincided with the current glut of "lounge"-style Brit-crooners such as Katie Melua, Michael Buble and Jamie Cullum. There's one difference, her style is from the streets.

WHAT DOES SHE SOUND LIKE?
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It's sometimes a criticism to say that a singer sounds like another singer, but a compliment when a singer can sound like a host of others. Firstly her nasal delivery is akin to Nelly Furtado. That's not something she'll be proud of, but it's the obvious comparison. When she's being twee and sweet, it's Erykah Badu and, more commonly, Billie Holiday. She grumbles on the low notes and that's when she can sound a bit llike Nina Simone. She uses hip hop beats allied to traditional jazz instruments on about half of the tracks on Frank. Whilst this is not a new approach, her voice guarantees that next 13 tracks are an interesting ride.

WHAT DOES SHE SING ABOUT?
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Got an hour? Generally relationships. There's a track on the album about packing your stuff into boxes after the break-up of a live-in relationship. Another is an anti-mutton-dressed-as-lamb anthem that women over 30 will not like. Some are just straight love songs.

WHAT'S FRANK LIKE?
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Funny you should ask, because I've separated out the tracks below. I've marked the songs out of five and also given a "jazzy" content mark in case you're not a fan of jazz and start having panic attacks.

1. Intro/Stronger Than Me (3:54)
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Not a good start to the album, or so I thought. A mild Cleo Laine "skoo-be-do"-type acapella scat kicks the album off and I was very tempted to press eject right there and then. But 20 seconds in a half hearted hip hop beat revved up and I was made to eat my words. Her vocals, coupled with a great trombone backing are both in your face and lazy. And one point her vocals actually pout and you barely understand her words. Released as a single.
Song: 4/5
Jazziness: 3/5

2. You Sent Me Flying (6:50)
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This song has a two and a half minute piano, tambourine and vocal intro and can drag a bit. However, Amy's not the sort to rhyme "love" with "above" or "fine" with "mine" and this intro certainly flies by with such great couplets like "although he's nothing in the scheme of my years/it just serves to bludgeon my futile tears". When the beat does start, the similarity to the Young Disciples' 1991 tune Apparently Nothing is astounding and for those of you who are familiar with that tune, you'll agree that's no bad thing. The last two minutes of the track is lent to a bossa nova style rhythm that, although not given credit on the back sleeve, is listed as a separate track with its own lyric sheet. It's called Cherry and serves merely as an afterthought.
Song: 3/5
Jazziness: 2/5

3. Know You Know (3:03)
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Carrying on the bossa nova theme is this mellow track reminiscent of Matt Bianco's Half A Minute. Amy's vocals soar for the first time and her nasal, soulful delivery reminds me for the first time of a street-smart, sexed-up Nelly Furtado. Just rimshot percussion and cute Hammond organ see this track all the way through. It's uptempo and possibly the jazziest thing so far on the album.
Song: 4/5
Jazziness: 4/5

4. F**k Me Pumps (3:20)
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The best song on Frank so far. Although simple in its execution and a somewhat annoying nursery rhyme delivery, this is where Winehouse gets really "urban". "You did too much E/met somebody/and spent the night getting caned".
The knives are out on this one, a tirade against ageing women trying to look the part in a young environment. Winehouse sings: "don't be mad at me/cos you're pushing 30/and your old tricks no longer work". Those three lines scare the hell out of me and make me glad I'm married and am partly content to stay in and watch the box on a Saturday night! Her nasal whine is rather forced at the end of this track and as she sings the last line in conjunction with the fading guitar, I'm reminded very much of Chandler's ex-girlfriend Janice, in Friends. That should be a bad thing, but it's not.
Song: 5/5
Jazziness: 1/5

5. I Heard Love Is Blind (2:10)
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A strummed acoustic guitar and jazz trumpet conjoin Ms Winehouse on the intro to this short track. Her voice is starting to come through the theatrics and the image and on this cut especially she's sounding scarily like Billie Holiday. Never going to be released as single!
Song: 3/5
Jazziness: 4/5

6. Moody's Mood For Love (4:10)
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Upon first hearing this, it sounds like Amy singing this in a scat-style over a double bass whilst someone throws empty lemonade bottles down a lift shaft. The perussion is weird, far out and works superbly. This can't be the same woman that just sung on I Heard Love Is Blind because the range and tone of the vocals lose their inhibitions and she almost sounds like Lauryn Hill. A bizarre but accessible track.
Song: 3/5
Jazziness: 4/5

7. (There Is) No Greater Love (2:08)
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It's back to BIllie Holiday territory for this short track. Her hushed, elongated vocals measure up impressively with the merest of percussion and dreamy sax on this track that wouldn't sound out of place in 1948. If this is jazz, I can handle this.
Song: 3/5
Jazziness: 5/5

8. In My Bed (5:17)
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WAKE UP! A hip hop beat (nicked, I think, from Nas' last album) blasts this track into life and immediately reclaims Amy's street credentials. A thumping bass pounds it's way through the cut and that most jazzy of things, the saxophone, even makes an appearance around the four minute mark. Just after that, Amy's going all Cleo Laine again before letting the sax and Nas-beat see the track out. Her lyrics are back to their best on this track and when she mournfully sings "yours is a familiar face/but that don't make your place safe in my bed" you know it's time to keep score and it's 15-love to the women. Released as a single.
Song: 4/5
Jazziness: 2/5

9. Take The Box
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Slow, moody number that reminds me a lot of Dee C Lee's See The Day or even the intro to Try A Little Tenderness. From what I can gather this sad piano-led track with gorgeous cooing backing vocals and classic 70's soul chord changes is about moving out of your partner's place after a fight. The track starts in ominous style lyrically with "your neighbours were screaming/I don't have a key for downstairs" and then later: "the Moschino bra you bought me last Christmas/(put it in the box, put it in the box)" has real sense of repossession about it. Despite it lazy tempo and obvious sad theme, a really uplifting track. Released as a single.
Song: 5/5
Jazziness: 1/5

10. October Song (3:24)
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The beat to this track is old school hip hop versus Soul II Soul and that is not a bad thing. Really cool drumming, a twittering jazz guitar sings away in the background and Amy's voice goes from Billie Holiday doing Marilyn Monroe sing Happy Birthday to a high pitched Alicia Keys. Her favoured doobedoo-style improvisation sees the track home and not a bad track at that.
Song: 4/5
Jazziness: 2/5

11. What Is It About Men? (3:29)
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This is very similar to Lauryn Hill in style. Mary J Blige-style beats and a Two-Toney, ska-ish trombone dominate throughout as Amy asks the question a 1000 women ask every Friday night at closing time. "Understand once he was a family man/so surely I'd never go through it first hand" Oh yeah, Amy, you little minx, something you're not telling us? This song is possibly the funkiest thing on the album and a direction I hope she chooses to take more in the future. It's all very well being jazzy, but sometimes all you need is funkiness.
Song: 4/5
Jazziness: 2/5

12. Help Yourself (5:01)
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What this album doesn't have is verses and bridges and choruses. There's no real structure to the songs and that in itself can be seen a hat-tip to the old days of jazz and the freedom the genre brought to its makers and fans. This track with it comical beats and hushed organ is about the most regimented on the album. There are build ups to the quiet, understated chorus and something akin to verses in between. Near the end the sax strolls in again, but you tend to grow to love it really.
Song: 4/5
Jazziness: 3/5

13. Amy Amy Amy / Outro (13:16)
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I'm sorry, have we just walked onto the set of The Jungle Book? The beat sounds like a slowed-down Bare Necessities complete with jokey double bass. Hoever, the insistent Amy Amy Amy refrain of the vocals and Amy's change of vocal style - again - prove any doubters wrong about this sharp, sassy and sussed new talent. There's also a hidden track at the end of the album (hence the 13:16 length) whixh I haven't reviewed because if it's not worth crediting it's worth listening to.

OVERALL
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A triumph. The best album I've heard this year from a British female (that includes you Katie Melua and Dido). It's mixture of musical styles, hip hop, soul, jazz, reggae, street-imagery and a powerful and humorous take on the pro-woman stance make this an album just about worth having. This is jazz for non-jazz fans.

IF YOU'VE BOUGHT "FRANK", GET THESE
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or
IF YOU'VE GOT THESE, BUY "FRANK"
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Artist: Nelly Furtado
Album: Whoa Nelly!
Year: 2001
Why: The whinging vocals

Artist: Lauryn Hill
Album: The Miseducation Of...
Year: 1998
Why: The streetness of her demeanour

Artist: Angie Stone
Album: Black Diamond
Year: 2000
Why: Source of the mellower grooves found on Frank

Artist: Nicolette
Album: Let No One Live Rent-Free In Your Head
Year: 1996
Why: Identical vocal style to Amy but with accessible drum n bass

Artist: Ms Dynamite
Album: A Little Deeper
Year: 2002
Why: The original 21st century savvy lady

Artist: Billie Holiday
Album: Definitive Collection
Year: 1991 (songs from 1946-1954)
Why: The absolute blueprint of all black music from the last 60 years

Artist: Erykah Badu
Album: Baduizm
Year: 1997
Why: Frank is essentially Baduizm for the 21st century

Thanks for reading and I hope this helps!

Wayne