John Lentz Music

HARVEY DIAMOND/JOHN LENTZ

how strange the road should be so easy

Diamond, piano; Lentz, vocals

Orchard of Pomegranates 006 (CD). 2025.

Ayelet Rose Gottlieb, prod.; Craig Welsch, eng.

PERFORMANCE 🔸🔸🔸🔸🔹

SONICS🔸🔸🔸🔸🔹

If there was ever a sleeper album, this is it.

This is John Lentz’s recording debut, at 76.

He has been involved with music his whole

life but has never quite had a professional

career until now. Harvey Diamond makes

his recording debut as a leader, at 82. He

was one of Lennie Tristano’s last students

and has been an underground figure on the

Boston jazz scene for decades.

You don’t hear singers like Lentz these

days. Hundreds of vocalists out there have

powerful pipes and undeniable chops.

Few get under your skin the way Lentz

does. “Detour Ahead” has always been an

ambivalent love song. Lentz’s dead-slow

version sounds like someone in a conver-

sation with himself, searching for under-

standing. His voice is gentle, contemplative,

and patient. He does not make every note,

and sometimes he seems to hesitate over a

phrase. But his voice is so disarming, hon-

est, and human that you trust its emotional

authenticity. Even when he sings simpler,

happier songs, he lingers over them, turns

them inward, and reveals unsuspected

nuances in their stories. Who knew that

“Ain’t Misbehavin’” was a poignant tale of

unrequited love?

As for Diamond, who is this guy? Why

isn’t he famous? Four of the 11 tracks

are piano solos, and each is stunning.

“Somewhere Over the Rainbow” reveals

Diamond’s gift for getting deep inside a

great song and elaborating and enlarging it

without ever abandoning its essence. “You

Don’t Know What Love Is” is another time-

less classic that Diamond makes his own.

He marks out the familiar theme in firm

chords and then begins to add digressions,

decorations, and variations all around that

melodic core. By the time he is done, it feels

like he has left nothing in that song unsaid.

This album has a quality that’s rarer than

perfection: irresistible charm.

—Thomas Conrad, Stereophile Magazine