There are bound to be people on your winter holiday gift list whose taste runs toward the more traditional sounds of jazz vocals and the standards. I have a few gift suggestions for those people.
If you live in the Chicago-area and you saw the pre-Broadway production of Mamma Mia!, chances are you saw Louise Pitre in the lead role of "Mamma" Donna Sheridan. Pitre is now making her Broadway debut in the same role. Originally released in 1998 and recently reissued in an expanded version to coincide with her Broadway appearance, Pitre's CD All Of My Life Has Led To This ( LML Music ) reveals other aspects of this multi-faceted performer. With a voice meant for the stage, Pitre performs 15 songs on the album, ranging from two Abba songs from Mamma Mia! ( "Slipping Through My Fingers" and "The Winner Takes It All"—in both an English and a French version ) to standards such as "An Affair To Remember," "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody," and "To Love Again" to a couple of her own originals ( "A Notre Tour" and "Les Ciel Est Bleu"—both sung in French ) .
Every time I mention that I don't care for opera ( and I mention it every chance I get ) , I fear that I will have my "gay card" taken away from me. Russell Watson is an exception to my opera rule. Perhaps I'm so taken with Watson because on his album The Voice ( Decca ) , he mixes classical pieces with his rendition of more contemporary works—all of which are sung in his remarkable tenor range. For the purist, Watson performs "Funiculi—funicula," "Nessun dorma!" ( from Turandot ) and "La donna e mobile" ( from Rigoletto ) . For the more adventurous listener, Watson's renditions of "Nella fantasia" ( from Ennio Morricone's soundtrack to The Mission ) , "Bridge Over Troubled Water," Ultravox's "Vienna" and Freddie Mercury's "Barcelona" ( with Shaun Ryder of Black Grape fame ) .
You may recognize Laurel Masse's name as one of the original members of Manhattan Transfer. Masse was an integral part of the sophisticated harmonic group for their first four albums. After being injured in a car accident in 1978, she left the group. Since that time she has released some solo discs. Her latest solo effort Feather & Bone ( Premonition ) combines various influences for a challenging, but varied album. Masse moves with vocal ease from the Quaker hymn of "How Can I Keep From Singing?" to Hildegard von Bingen's 12th century composition "O Virtus Sapientiae" to the traditional folk of "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child" to a couple of Bach compositions, among others. ( www.premonitionandmusic.com )
If the Laurel Masse disc is too esoteric for the traditionalists on the list, please consider Haines His Way ( Fynsworth Alley ) by Guy Haines. Vocalist Haines has assembled an eclectic assortment of tunes that represent a large assortment of classic and neo-classic standards. Haines should be commended for finding a way ( with producer and label-head Bruce Kimmel ) to make such a wide-range of music sound like it belongs on one CD. Standouts include "Fallin'" ( from They're Playing Our Song ) , the Dolly Parton hit "Here You Come Again" ( done as a duet with Alice Ripley ) , Randy Newman's stunning "Marie," and "I'd Love To Sing A Love Song" ( from Bill Russell & Henry Krieger's Everything's Ducky ) .
Diana Krall may be making a commotion near the top of the Billboard charts, but you owe it to yourself to listen to Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane ( Concord ) by Karrin Allyson. With John Coltrane's classic 1961 recording Ballads as the inspiration, Allyson vocally does for the same 11 songs what Coltrane did with his saxophone. Highlights include "All Or Nothing At All," "I Wish I Knew," "Nancy ( With The Laughing Face ) ," and Coltrane's own "Naima."
Seattle-based Ben Black's smooth and jazzy tenor vocals give the selections on his CD Remembered Faces/Private Places ( Origin ) a smoky feel. He puts his stamp on Sondheim ( "I Remember," "Somewhere" ) and on a couple of Latin tunes ( Jobim's "A Felicidade," Arbelo's "Si Tu No Estas" ) . Black closes the disc with a pair of medleys that are also worth mentioning. The Irish Medley includes tempered readings of "Danny Boy" and "My Wild Irish Rose." The pairing of Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford's "Old Friend" with Sondheim's "Old Friends" was an interesting idea that doesn't work as well as the Irish Medley. ( www.originarts.com )
Randy Newman also gets the cover treatment on Left Coast Life by Kitty Margolis ( Mad-Kat ) . Margolis does Newman's satiric "Lonely At The Top." She also does a Tom Waits cover—"Take It With Me," which closes the disc on a sad, but beautiful, note. The biggest surprise on the album is a jazz vocal rendition of Pink Floyd's "Money," which survives the transition in one piece. ( www.kittymargolis.com )
A genuine blast from the past, James Darren's Because Of You ( Concord ) has more than a dozen instantly recognizable standards performed by the crooner in a snappy jazz style that is reminiscent of both Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. Darren's duet with Monica Mancini, on the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You," is the album's highlight.
Musical theater diva Christiane Noll ( Jekyll & Hyde ) pays tribute to Ira Gershwin on The Ira Gershwin Album ( Fynsworth Alley ) . Surviving his brother George by nearly 40 years, Ira Gershwin had the opportunity to write with other people in addition to the work he did with George. Noll does her own rendition of some of those songs, including "The Man That Got Away" ( written with Harold Arlen ) , "There Is No Music" ( with Harry Warren ) , "The Saga of Jenny" ( with Kurt Weill ) and "Long Ago & Far Away" ( with Jerome Kern ) , to name a few. Nearly half of the songs on the album, including "Someone To Watch Over Me," "The Man I Love," "I've Got A Crush On You," and "S'Wonderful," were co-written by the Gershwin brothers.
Nearly 20 years ago, Patti Austin—well-known for her way with a jazz standard and a commercial jingle—had a considerable dance club hit with the song "Rhythm Of The Streets." Nothing on On The Way To Love ( Warner Brothers ) suggests that kind of dancing. However, "Girlfriend," the album's opener, has potential, as does the slow-burning funk of "What Can I Say?" And "Make It Right." Mostly, these are cool-down tunes that escape smooth jazz slickness because Austin is a consummate professional and performer. "Let Me Be Me" is even the kind of modern-day soul song that would fit in on Alicia Keys's next album.