On
Nancy Wilson's previous album, 2004's
R.S.V.P., the legendary vocalist teamed up with a given instrumentalist on each track. She must have liked the formula, because she's done it again on
Turned to Blue. Here the oft-honored jazz singer leaves room in each number -- save for the title track, a
Maya Angelou poem set to music and arranged by
Jay Ashby -- for a different soloist, bringing in such heavyweights as
Hubert Laws on flute, saxists
Jimmy Heath,
Andy Snitzer,
Bob Mintzer (who appears to be summoning
Stan Getz on the opening number,
Gordon Jenkins' "This Is All I Ask"),
James Moody and
Tom Scott, pianist
Dr. Billy Taylor, and steel pans player
Andy Narrell, among others. Working with configurations ranging from classic big band (
Duke Ellington's "Take Love Easy") to trio-plus-guest-soloist ("Knitting Class"),
Wilson applies her seasoned but still flexible pipes to material both old and new, straddling the fence between adult contemporary/pop and the more demanding jazz of her earlier career. Heavy on the ballads, and confined nearly exclusively to love songs,
Turned to Blue finds
Nancy Wilson right where she ought to be nearly half a century into her recording career. ~ Jeff Tamarkin