Champian Fulton comes off as a kind of Diana Krall here, displaying great chops on the piano, but also impressive as a swinging vocalist on this collection of standards with a trio of bassist Hide Tanaka, drummer Fukushi Tainaka as well as flugelhorn man Stephen Fulton and tenor sax legend Scott Hamilton. On the instrumental tracks Fulton shows great strides as she and the team shuffles through “Bluebird” goes on an easy bop with Tanaka in front on “Yardbird Suite” and a trio of “Quasimodo” is a toe tapping treat.
She uses her voice as a horn, making it delectable and fusing Indian-style half-tones as she stretches out the notes on a languid “Just Friends” stretching out the lyrics like Turkish Taffy on the breathy “This Is Always”. She oozes with Hamilton like molasses on pancakes on “My Old Flame” and she enters the room all aglow in her chiffon dress of a voice on “Dearly Beloved”. Timeless and tasty treasures.