Turned to Blue
On her follow-up to the 2005 Grammy winner (for Best Jazz Vocal Album)R.S.V.P. (Rare Songs, Very Personal), classic jazz singer Nancy Wilson takes it nice and easy. Overall, it would have been nice to get more tracks with the "All Star Big Band," which percolates beautifully on Duke Ellington's "Take Love Easy" and Vernon Duke's "Taking a Chance on Love." The joy with which Wilson surfs over these arrangements is infectious and allows the listener to overlook the occasional roughness of breathing and pitch. The rest of the album is more subdued and less winning. The title track sets Maya Angelou's poem "My Life Has Turned to Blue" to music, with soft Latin-jazz inflections punctuated by marimba (a sly nod to Angelou's own calypso recordings of the 1950s?) At the other extreme, a cover of "Just Once," a track popularized by Quincy Jones and James Ingram, veers dangerously toward Lite FM territory. It should be noted that fans of tenor-sax playing will enjoy distinct solo spots by Bob Mintzer, James Moody, Tom Scott, Andy Snitzer, and Jimmy Heath.--Elisabeth Vincentelli