December 1998

Lisa Michel
You Should Be Nicer To Me
Fabulon

By Dave Burns

Hard to get a clear fix on the voice through the fog of effects, swoops, breath, and effort; liberties with melody, meter, and lyrics add nothing of interest. The quartet (David Berkman, piano; James Genus, bass; Matt Wilson, drums; Joel Frahm, tenor sax) swings hard on "Evenin'" with a righteous vocal and a wailing tenor solo. Two of Duke's best ballads, Lerner/Lowe's "Show Me," Frank Loesser's "I've Never Been in Love Before," and a blessedly straight sax chorus on the Johnny Mercer/Gordon Jenkins classic, "P.S. I Love You." Two originals by Michel, and a haunting minor mood, "Tiny Prairie Landscape," by Berkman.