Live at Tavern on the Green
Released close to a decade after her death at 43, this live CD testifies to what made Nancy LaMott special to many cabaret lovers. The singer had a gentle, homespun manner rather different from the urban sophistication one so often associates with the classic American songbook. She sounded as if she didn't have a vindictive bone in her body and enjoyed the true worth of life's most basic pleasures with sincere optimism--no wonder she offers here a cleancut of Berlin's "I Got the Sun in the Morning." Backed by a discreet trio, LaMott is at her understated best on the more melancholy numbers, such as Rodgers and Hart's "I Didn't Know What Time It Was." The recording, which documents an entire show, banter included, also shows that LaMott was ahead of the game in the way she seamlessly mixed standards with modern pop (tracks by Rupert Holmes, Antonio Carlos Jobim and James Taylor).--Elisabeth Vincentelli