You sure can’t go too wrong when you’ve got a pedigree like singer Lila Ammons. She’s the granddaughter of famed boogie woogie pianist Albert Ammons and niece of soulful tenor saxist Gene Ammons, so she’s sure been exposed to the right sounds, and it shows here.
She’s backed by a rotating team of Bryan Nichols-Javier Santiago-Benny Weinbeck/keys, Robert Everest-David Feily/g, Arthur Bruckner-Kevin Washington/dr, Jeff Bailey/b and Pete Whitman/ts-fl and mixes vintage sounds from just about every era of jazz.
Some Ellingtonia has Ammons in a languid mood as she’s in a duet with Weinbeck on a reflective “ In A Sentimental Mood” cozy on “I Love You Madly” and agonizing on “ Sophisticated Lady”. Some Kansas City Blues has her feisty on “Blues, The Mother Of Sin” while she sashays to Whitman’s flute and Everest’s acoustic strums on the breezy bossa “E Preciso Perdoar”. Her bop chops are in great form as she has fun on Thelonious Monk’s “Man, That Was A Dream” while she glistens to Whitman’s tenor on a glowing “Old Folks”. True to the marrow.