Phil Lentz Lands the Mood on Phil Lentz Presents..., Eleven Short Tunes for an Evening In
An American Songwriter’s First Album Pairs Jazz with Folk and Rock in Pop-Length Tunes
Eleven tracks, none longer than four and a half minutes, and the last one a 69-second lullaby: Phil Lentz Presents… is built to be played straight through. The first album from Phil Lentz came out on 28 September 2022. It mixes jazz with folk and rock, and it suits an evening that wants company without demanding attention.
Phil Lentz’s music is in the playlist below, and his full run of coverage sits on the Phil Lentz artist profile. Phil Lentz Presents… came here through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news desks. Press play, then read on for how to fit it into an evening.
Phil Lentz Presents… Sets a Loose, Late-Night Jazz Mood With Folk and Rock Underneath
Start with the titles, because they read like a set list for a relaxed night. Bluesy opens the album. Then come That Far Away Look, Pleasant Tune, Icy Cool, Tap Your Toes and Slow and Simple.
The mood is loose and late-night, with jazz in front and folk and rock underneath. It was the first of three albums in that blend, so this one set the template. The tunes are short and get to their point quickly. So the record never asks for more than a casual ear.
Lentz is a composer and jazz pianist based in New York City, United States. He shaped these songs in workshops at the city’s music clubs, including the Bitter End in Greenwich Village, so audiences heard them before they were recorded.
Play Phil Lentz Presents… in One Sitting, From Bluesy to a Lullaby That Lasts 69 Seconds
The moment for this record is the end of a day. It runs a little under half an hour, short enough for a dinner or a slow commute home. The sequence helps, too. Bluesy sets the tone at the start, and the longest track, Where Are All the People, sits in the middle at four minutes and 25 seconds. Then Lullaby closes it in just over a minute.
That closing track is Lentz alone. Everywhere else he plays with a band. Phil Lentz, credited as Philip Lentz, wrote the music, and the band around him is Dennis Harte, Kevin Gaffney and Wolfgang Lugomarsini. Red Heller joins them on three tracks, Bluesy, That Far Away Look and Where Are All the People.
So the album moves from a full group to a single player at the very end. It is a natural way to wind an evening down.
Pair Phil Lentz Presents… With Two New York Jazz Records, One From a Club and One From a Studio
For a longer evening, pair it with records that share its home city. The first is Bill Evans‘s Sunday at the Village Vanguard. Evans’s trio recorded it live at the Village Vanguard on 25 June 1961. Then, eleven days later, Bill Evans lost his bassist, Scott LaFaro, in a car accident. The album came out that September and is still ranked among the best live jazz records ever made. Lentz’s tunes come from the same kind of room, songs shaped in front of people in a small club.
The second is Billy Joel‘s 52nd Street, released in October 1978. Billy Joel hired jazz musicians to give it a fresh sound and named it after the Midtown street where jazz clubs once lined the block. It became his first album to reach number one on the Billboard 200, where it held the top spot for eight weeks. Phil Lentz Presents… comes at the same meeting from the other direction, a jazz player writing in pop lengths.
Together, then, the three records make a natural run of New York music, from club jazz through studio pop to Lentz’s short tunes in between.
Find the Album in Our World, Roots, Jazz and Lounge Playlist, Then Follow Its Two Sequels
Bluesy also sits in our world, roots, jazz and lounge playlist, which is the easiest way to drop the album’s mood into a longer evening. From there the rest of the record is a click away.
Which brings it back to that 69-second lullaby. An album that ends so quietly knows exactly what it is for: the last half hour of the day, with good company in the room.
PopHits.News’s curator team: “Short jazz tunes are harder to write than long ones, because there is nowhere to hide. Phil Lentz Presents… keeps every track tidy and warm, and the little lullaby at the end is the kind of goodnight more albums should say.”
Follow Phil Lentz on Spotify, Instagram, Facebook and X. The second album is on Spotify and Bandcamp, and his official site has the rest.
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