May 2002

Dina Blade
S'Wonderful
Pony Boy Records

By Christopher Loudon

Seattle's Dina Blade isn't a great jazz singer, which isn't to say that she's a bad performer-anything but. She's warm and inviting, with a polished, professional style and impeccable, if conservative, taste. On her latest CD, the misspelled S'Wonderful (Pony Boy PB50129-2; 46:20), Blade charts a safe but satisfying course through such stalwart standards as "That's All," "On the Street Where You Live," "Suddenly It's Spring" and "Too Marvelous for Words." Thirteen tracks later, you're left with the feeling that you enjoyed a bubbly, refreshing soda but might have preferred a smooth single malt.