1. Something
Worth Waiting For
2. All You Need to Say
3. Lightning
4. A Long Way to Go
5. Strollin’
6. I Found the Turnaround
7. Follow the Footprints
8. Life is a Groove
9. A Tree and Me
10. I
Can’t Say
11. But
I Was Cool
12. Give
Me a Break
13. Everybody’s
Boppin’
Karrin Allyson
– Vocals, piano and shaker
Jon Hendricks
– Vocals and whistle solo
Nancy
King – Vocals
Bruce
Barth – Piano and Fender Rhodes
Peter
Washington – Bass
Todd Strait
– Drums
Frank
Wess – Tenor sax and flute
Nick Phillips
- Trumpet
Karrin Allyson
is one of my favourite singers but she’s less
well known than she deserves to be. This American
vocalist can handle any song with assurance,
singing perfectly in tune and enunciating
the lyrics clearly. Her voice has a specially
attractive quality, with a mellow tone and
an occasional hoarseness which the sleeve-note
compares to her namesake June Allyson but
which could also be described as the singing
equivalent of British actress Joan Greenwood.
Most of the
songs on this new album are jazz tunes given
new lyrics by songwriter Chris Caswell or
(in track 8) by Karrin Allyson herself.
Instrumentals by such jazz luminaries as Nat
Adderley and John Coltrane are given a makeover
by the addition of lyrics. This process usually
results in vocalese, which adds lyrics to
a jazz solo. However, most of the numbers
here add lyrics to the song itself, not to
an improvised solo, thus avoiding the patter-song
effect of much vocalese. For example, Dizzy
Gillespie’s Con Alma is transformed
into a ballad called Something Worth Waiting
For, delivered tenderly by Karrin. Duke
Jordan’s Jordu becomes a groovy swinger
called Life is a Groove, on which Karrin
is joined in harmony by Nancy King, a vocalist
from Portland.
Other special
guests include the legendary singer Jon Hendricks,
and saxist Frank Wess, who adds serpentine
tenor solos to a couple of tunes. Two songs
– A Tree and Me and But I Was Cool
– were supposed to feature their composer,
Oscar Brown Jr., but he sadly died before
the album was recorded, so Karrin sings them
in tribute. Her version of But I Was Cool
is less raucous than Brown’s original
but Karrin effectively conveys coolness in
the face of adversity.
You haven’t
heard of Karrin Allyson before? Then it’s
about time you did.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Concord Jazz
0013431229124
