Forever Love
Mark Whitfield is a gifted guitarist with a quick-fingered but elegant knack for phrasing. Unfortunately, this gift has been sabotaged by a weakness for sentimentality that dominatesForever Love. Nine of the 10 selections were inspired by a famous jazz vocal by the likes of Dinah Washington, Tony Bennett, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. Only two have actual vocals (by guest Diana Krall), but Whitfield always supplies the lead voice, whether playing electric guitar with a combo or orchestra or playing acoustic guitar alone. Unlike his famous models, though, Whitfield never undercuts the mushy melodrama with a sobering dose of realism, and becomes as cloying as Earl Klugh or George Benson.--Geoffrey Himes