Benny Carter Songbook (Tribute)
Often scattershot and self-indulgent, tribute albums have become a much maligned genre, but Benny Carter'sSongbookis the sort of project that justifies the whole concept. Carter is not only a legendary jazz instrumentalist, but also a vastly underrated songwriter who doesn't actually sing himself. How are you going to showcase his talent except through a tribute album? By pulling together 13 different singers to tackle 15 of Carter's songs--written anytime from the 1930s to the 1990s--Songbookmakes such a persuasive case for Carter that all our previous notions about the pantheon of jazz songwriters must be reevaluated.--Geoffrey Himes