JON LUCIEN-RASHIDA.

dereksmusicblog ♦ June 4, 2011 ♦ 2 Comments

JON LUCIEN-RASHIDA.

Today I thought I would write about an artist who many people will not be aware of, despite the artist receiving two Grammy nominations for the album this article is about. The artist is Jon Lucien, and the album is Rashida, his second album, released on RCA Records in 1973. 

Jon Lucien was born Lucien Harrigan, in 1942, in Tortola the main island of the British Virgin Islands. Lucien was brought up by his father in Saint Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands. His father was a musician, and was an influence on his son, and his eventual choice of career.

During the middle of the 1960s, Jon Lucien decided to move to New York, to fulfill his ambition of embarking on a musical career. It would be 1970 before he would eventually release his first album. The album was entitled I Am Now. On this album, one can hear clearly, one of Lucien’s big influences Nat King Cole shine through. One of the track’s on I Am Now, is Dindi, written by legendary Brazilian composer, Antonio Carlos Jobin. Lucien’s version is a beautiful version, of a beautiful song. Most of the tracks on the album are cover versions. Some work really well, others seem like a strange choice for this album. The most misguided choices are Who Will Buy? and The Sound of Music. These tracks seem totally out of place on the album, especially the latter, which is really not suited to Lucien’s vocal style, and should not have been put on the album.

His second album, is Rashida, the album this article is about. Rashida contained some of Lucien’s best known tracks. This includes Lady Love, Rashida and Would You Believe In Me. Jon Lucien received two Grammy nominations for tracks on Rashida. One was for Rashida, one of the album’s standout tracks. Unlike his debut album, I Am Now, all the songs were written by Lucien. Lucien’s brother, Eric Harrigan Jr played drums on Rashida. For me this is Jon Lucien’s best album. It is an album which contained some wonderful music, music which still sounds great nearly forty years later.

1974 saw Lucien record his third album Mind’s Eye with producer Dave Grusin. The album was Lucien’s third and final album for RCA Records. On Mind’s Eyes, Lucien’s brother Keebo Harrigan played drums. It contained Listen Love, So Little Time and Ghetto Song. 

Having left RCA Records, Lucien signed a contract with CBS. His first album for his new label was Song For My Lady, released in 1976. The follow up to Song For My Lady was his 1976 album Premonition. That was his last album of original material for CBS. They released The Best of Jon Lucien in 1980.

There were six years between Premonition and Romantico his next album. After the release of Romantico, Lucien did not release another album until 1991. The album he released in 1991 Listen Love, was very much a return to form, after his lengthy hiatus. There was not such a gap between his next albums. In 1993 Jon Lucien release Mother Nature’s Son. 

Four years passed until the release of Endlless Is Love. This was released one year after the tragic death of his seventeen year old daughter in a plane crash. This was one way he mourned her loss, through music, as music he believed, was a special force, one that allowed them to communicate. 

Jon Lucien released his final studio album Precious Is Love. One year later The Best of Jon Lucien was released. After that, no further music was released by Lucien. He died in August 2007, aged sixty-five.

Having briefly told you about Jon Lucien’s life and career, I will now tell you why Rashida is such a good album. The album opens with the track Kuenda. Kuenda begins with waves crashing onto the beach, gulls circling overhead and children laughing.Then Lucien sings accompanied by merely an acoustic guitar strummed gently. Here he is almost scatting, during the track. This is an interesting choice of track to start the album. It is a pleasant enough song, but far from the strongest on the album. I wonder why Lucien did not put one of the stronger tracks first, and put this song last on the album. It would have been a better way to close the album, than start it.

Would You Believe In Me? is the next track on Rashida, and is a much stronger track. This is vintage Jon Lucien. From when he counts the band in, until the track ends two and half minutes later, the song is absolute quality. The track features Lucien singing in front of band that includes a brass section. That brass section gives the song an injection of life, and almost a feel of the Carribean. Lucien sings this joyous song with feeling and passion. It is a song of love, one that features some beautiful lyrics, which demonstrate Lucien’s skill as a songwriter. This is one of Jon Lucien’s greatest moments, one that I never tire of hearing.

Lady Love is another of Lucien’s love songs. The lyrics have an innate beauty, which Lucien translates into one of the most beautiful love songs that you will ever hear. On this song, the arrangement is such, that Lucien’s voice is allowed to dominate the track. It is given centre-stage, and Lucien’s rich baritone, delivers the song perfectly. Like, Would You Believe In Me?, Lady Love has the most exquisite lyrics. On Rashida, every song was written by Lucien, whereas on his first album, most of the songs were cover versions.

The next song Luella, is another one of Lucien’s love songs. What is different is the sound. Two things differ. Firstly, the song features a bigger sound and benefits from having a band that features a brass section and percussion, as well as the more traditional instruments. Secondly, Lucien’s vocal style is different on this track. He improvises quite a lot during the track, and revisits the scat vocal style of the opening track. Here, this is effective, and contrasts well with his usual vocal style. Luella is a good track, but after the previous two masterpieces, Luella was always going to have a hard act to follow.

Shana is a slower, quieter song. Lucien sings the song accompanied only by acoustic guitar. The song sees Lucien in a pensive mood, looking to the past. It is a complete contrast to Lady Love and Do You Believe In Me? This song shows yet another side of Jon Lucien, there is not the same joyousness within the lyrics, yet the songs feature his trademark quality lyrics.

The next song is entitled Satan, is easily the poorest song on the album. It features just under four minutes of Lucien scatting, and giving a performance that can be blamed on musicians who believed free jazz had something to do with music. Quite simply, this song has no place whatsoever on this album, or any album. 

After the previous desperate track Satan, Rashida sees Lucien return to form. Rashida is one of the best songs Lucien wrote and sang. No wonder this song was nominated for a Grammy. Lucien has reserved one of his best performances for Rashida. He sings this lovely song gently, articulating perfectly, the lyrics, highlighting their thoughtfulness and exquisite quality. 

War Song sees Lucien sing about the futility of war, and how a life lost, is a life wasted. He gives a strong vocal performance, using his vocal range well, to sing his powerful and intelligent lyrics. Although this is a very different song from others on this album, it is well written and well sung by Lucien. This song shows that Lucien was not a one trick pony, who could only sing and write love songs.  

Esperenza sees Lucien changing his style again. He plays acoustic guitar and scat his way through the song. It is very effective, it is a gentle and pleasant, pleasing on the ear. Unlike Satan, this track works, maybe because of the way he sings the song.

Love Everlasting is the penultimate song on Rashida. This is one of the best songs on the album. It features a lovely string arrangement, and sees Lucien sing the song really well, starting off scatting, then continuing with a much more traditional vocal style. The song meanders, gently, the tempo constant, Lucien’s phrasing is perfect, he leaves space in the song, which highlights the lyrics and their beauty.

The album ends in much the same way as it began. Zenzile sees Lucien scat in this song, improvising totally. This is something he does a lot on the album. On this track, he does so throughout the track, on others he does so fleetingly. This track may be a lost opportunity, as the track has the basis for a really good song. However, it is a good way to end a good album.

During the last few days I have spent some time re-listening to Jon Lucien’s music. It is music that I have loved for many years. He was a really talented singer and songwriter, one who should have become a much bigger star than he was. His music deserved a much wider audience. The albums he made during the 1970s were, by far, his best work. I Am Now was very much Lucien finding his feet as an artist. Maybe he realized that his over-reliance on cover versions on that album was a mistake, and on Rashida and Mind’s Eyes he wrote all the songs himself. That was a good move, and a huge improvement. Later in his career, he was far from prolific, and seemed to lose his way, never scaling the heights of his early career, maybe even failing to realize the huge potential he had as a singer and songwriter. However, we should be glad that Jon Lucien recorded the music he did, he has left behind, a wonderful legacy, for future generations of music lovers to discover. Should you wish to purchase Rashida, and I hope you will, it is available along with I Am Now and Mind’s Eye on a two disc set released in 2001 on Sony Music. Standout Tracks: Would You Believe In Me?, Lady Love, Rashida and Love Everlasting.

JON LUCIEN-RASHIDA