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...

Juliet Ewing’s “Simply ‘S Wonderful—The Magic Of Gershwin”

Gerry Geddes
Regardless of the prevailing musical tastes, singers in each generation discover the remarkable, varied, romantic and passionate musical artistry of George and Ira Gershwin. What is often forgotten (or not realized) is that their output in its time was not in the jazz idiom. They inhabited the worlds of pop, Broadway, and even opera later in their...

Hannah Gill’s “Spooky Jazz Vol. 3”

Gerry Geddes
I am aware that the traditional phrase is “moved to tears” but when listening to Hannah Gill’s new album, Spooky Jazz Vol 3, I was on many occasions moved to smiles.  The musicianship, the personality, the wit, and the inspired song choices shine as both a recording and a palliative.  Someone watching me listen to...