This
Vanessa Rubin release is a tribute to
Carmen McRae. Although she cites
McRae as a major influence,
Rubin actually does not sound much like her and leans as much toward middle-of-the-road music as jazz. Also, not all of these songs are really identified with
McRae (most notably "Send in the Clowns" which was largely owned by
Sarah Vaughan). The ballad-dominated set does have a reasonable amount of variety,
Rubin gets off some fine scatting on "Yardbird Suite" and she introduces an excellent original in "No Strings Attached." A variety of guests (including
Grover Washington, Jr.,
Frank Foster,
Antonio Hart,
Cecil Bridgewater,
Kenny Burrell and
Monty Alexander) only appear on one or two songs apiece and do not make that much of an impression. However
Vanessa Rubin's attractive voice is strong enough to carry the music and this release is a step forward for her. ~ Scott Yanow