Let's Face the Music: The Songs of Irving Berlin
Susannah McCorkle does not have a big, overpowering voice; she has built her reputation as a jazz and cabaret singer on the sheer sensuality of her purr. In other words, she's a musical descendant of Billie Holiday, not Ella Fitzgerald. When she understates material to give it a romantic intimacy, she's as pleasurable a vocalist as her field knows. When she tries to reach for a brassy climax to a show-stopper Broadway tune, she inevitably falls short. Fortunately, there's more understatement than overstatement onLet's Face the Music: The Songs of Irving Berlin. Many of the album's 14 Berlin compositions are associated with Fred Astaire, and McCorkle displays a rhythmic dexterity reminiscent of the old hoofer--who also compensated for a lack of vocal power with a seductive timbre. McCorkle is backed by solo piano, solo guitar, piano trio, saxophone quintet, and jazz octet, and the different settings give the project a welcome variety. The musicians are top-notch; Phil Woods bassist Steve Gilmore provides the supple pulse, and saxophonists Jerry Dodgion and Chris Potter supply solos as arresting as the vocals. McCorkle shows her imagination in reworking "Cheek to Cheek" as a bossa nova, and her good sense in resisting the temptation to belt out "Let's Face the Music and Dance;" instead she turns it into an invitation to a slower, sexier turn on the dance floor.--Geoffrey Himes