“Cat & the Hounds—Colin Hancock’s Jazz Hounds” Featuring Catherine Russell

Penelope Thomas
Grab your hat and your party shoes, pack a suitcase for a classic train ride, and get ready for Cat & The Hounds’ trip to the 1920s. Arranger, producer, cornetist, and C-melody sax player Colin Hancock has created a bubble of joy where you can imagine an evening with a territory Creole jazz band. Regional...

“You Fascinate Me So: Phillip Officer Salutes Mabel Mercer”

Mark Dundas Wood
I never had the good fortune to hear Mabel Mercer sing live, so I’ve had to rely on recordings to understand why she is such an inspiration to the cabaret singers who have followed in her footsteps. Mercer admitted to changing her way of singing late in her career. Her New York Times obituary from...

Maria Corsaro – “Love Makes the Changes”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
Vocalist Maria Corsaro’s dulcet new album, Love Makes the Changes, is a hybrid of sorts, in that it merges Corsaro’s longstanding passion for jazz singing with her newfound interest in cabaret. According to liner notes, Corsaro’s recording is intended to satisfy fans of both performance genres in equal measure. But from a purely vocal standpoint, cabaret audiences...

Darius de Haas: “Let Me Carry You This Christmas”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
A very “wintery,” interestingly daring Christmas album, noted jazz vocalist and OBIE Award-winning musical-theatre performer Darius de Haas’s Let Me Carry You This Christmas showcases the singer’s bold explorations of a range of musical styles through a well-curated array of traditional carols and cold-weather songs. De Haas sings with grand emotion. His “involving” style really pulls...

Debbie Wileman: “A Christmas Garland”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
Surprisingly, the iconic American vocalist Judy Garland never made a full Christmas album.  But thanks to Judy Garland impersonator Debbie Wileman’s A Christmas Garland, we get to hear what such a recording by the legendary singer might have sounded like. While you won’t be fooled into thinking you’re hearing Garland herself, Wileman’s vocal impersonation is extraordinary....

Kenny Barron — “Songbook”

Gerry Geddes
Anyone with even a passing interest in or knowledge of jazz has no doubt heard the name Kenny Barron.  He is an acclaimed master of the piano and has been since the early 1960s.  He has worked with the best in the field and, at 82, he could easily choose to rest on his well-deserved...

La Tanya Hall —”If Not Now, When…”

Mark Dundas Wood
La Tanya Hall’s recent album, If Not Now, When…, is her first since she recovered her voice after having lost it for a while in a bout with COVID. The album has a short song list—a mere eight tracks. And while the collection may not inspire a lightning flash on a single listening, repeat visits...

Paloma Dineli Chesky— “Memory”

Penelope Thomas
Paloma Dineli Chesky’s third album, Memory, evokes one of my favorite kinds of midcentury record genres, what I’ll unofficially call "the sad girl on a rainy night." It features one beautiful, sustained feeling of regret and love lost; with a nod to modal jazz; and an invitation to spend some quality time with the singer,...

Mark William— “If I Can Dream”

Mark Dundas Wood
On his live album, If I Can Dream, recorded at The Green Room 42 in May of this year, Mark William is heard doing journeyman work on the first several numbers. His opening mash-up of “It’s You Again” (Walter Marks) and “Love Is in the Air” (Harry Vanda, George Young) is spirited, but he seems...

Eric Comstock & Barbara Fasano— “Painting the Town”

Mark Dundas Wood
For some reason, I had the mistaken idea that the recent recording Painting the Town, from the singing-spouses team of Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano, was a live album, perhaps captured at one of their appearances at NYC’s Birdland. As someone who enjoys their club work, I thought that such a recording was a great...