Vox
08/01/12 By Christopher Loudon
Less Than Three
Scat Cat
Actually, the album’s title is Evita ’s “I’d Be Surprisingly Good for You” and, with exquisite assistance from Jane Bunnett on soprano sax, transforms its devilish lure into near-angelic yearning. Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” ignites a brief but rigorous display...
07/25/12 By Christopher Loudon
Uptown
Vocalist David Basse has served as Kansas City’s foremost jazz advocate for more than a quarter-century, earning national acclaim for his City Light Orchestra. Basse’s work outside the orchestra has remained, however, largely a local pleasure. A particularly...
02/10/12 By Christopher Loudon
Lovers After All
Jazzed
It would be unfair to refer to Deborah Winters as unvarnished, for she is about as polished as jazz vocalists come. But there is a back-to-basics purity about her work that is tremendously appealing. A longtime favorite among jazz-savvy San Franciscans...
02/08/12 By Christopher Loudon
You'd Be Surprised
Smarty Kat
Though her early forays were more rock and pop, in recent years Atlanta’s Kayla Taylor has, in partnership with guitarist Steve Moore, found her musical focus with jazz standards. There’s a slight, if persistent, twang to Taylor’s voice that reveals her...
02/06/12 By Christopher Loudon
You'll See
Miles High
After more than a quarter-century with various vocal groups, including the fine, retro-fitted female trio String of Pearls, jazz educator and vocal therapist Holli Ross has pulled an Annie Ross and delivered her first solo album. Ross’ voice suggests a star...
02/04/12 By Christopher Loudon
Hollywood
Verve Forecast
Listening to the Puppini Sisters is like eating too much peanut brittle. At first bite, the winsome threesome’s chocolate-box harmonies seem mighty tasty, but an entire album of the precise same candy-coated cuteness leaves you craving something—anything—less...
02/02/12 By Christopher Loudon
To Brazil With Love
Koch International
Early on in her still relatively nascent career, Canadian vocalist Diana Panton had the great fortune, and good sense, to align herself with two outstanding jazz countrymen, multi-instrumentalist Don Thompson and guitarist Reg Schwager. It was Thompson who...
01/31/12 By Christopher Loudon
Tell Me Once Again
Linn Records
Since launching her career in the mid-’80s, Scottish vocalist Carol Kidd has earned plaudits from Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Tony Bennett. In 1990, Sinatra invited her to open for him in Glasgow and subsequently declared her “the best...
01/29/12 By Christopher Loudon
Dreamer In Concert
Blue Note Records
Though New Jersey-born Stacey Kent has called London home for two decades, she maintains a special affection for France. The long-ago European trip that led her to her husband—saxophonist, arranger and producer Jim Tomlinson—and the emergence of her music...
01/27/12 By Christopher Loudon
It Happens Quietly
Specific
Throughout this splendidly realized album, there’s no missing Jacqui Dankworth’s regal heritage. Her mother, Dame Cleo Laine, possesses one of the most distinctive voices in jazz and the echoes are unmistakable, particularly in Dankworth’s immaculate phrasing...
