Female singers of independent minds..
Alyssa Allgood joins together with Mike Allemana/g, Dennis Carrolll/b and George Fludas/dr as she mixes band originals and standards. She has a girl-next-door coziness to her voice and delivery, cozying up to Allemana’s sleek strums on “There Are Such Things” and bouncing with Carroll on her own 
“Time Found”. Upbeat and assuring on “Passing Glance”, she is dreamy on Carroll’s “Enclosure”. Fludas provides moody mallets on “Mad About The Boy” and adds a somber mood to Allgood’s already regretful tone on “Should’ve Been”. As with all singers of this clarity, she’s best on duets and teams up with Allemana for a vulnerable “For All We Know”. 
Serves them up as well as Chris Evert.
Nashville based lady Alyssa Jacey is captured in a concert while touring in 2020 and working an audience in Sun Valley, Idaho. It’s just her and guitar, and she interacts with the audience between each song, connecting with them and the songs together. Her own material can be coy and upbeat as on “Anything You Want” or stark during “Drowning Me”. She pleads passionately on “You Think You Know Somebody” and shows some nice guitar work on her cover of The Beatles’ “Come Together”. Informal as in a campfire. Pass the Smores!
Lauren Lee accompanies herself on piano and keyboards, mixing lyrics to voices on a mix of originals and standards. Wordless, she is pretty on the intimate “Cogitation” while bopping along on “Mad House” with some dreamy “oohs” added to her keys on “Boxes”, scatting along on “Footprints”. Multi-tracked voices are choral on “Up in the Air” and she is ethereal for ”If I Should Lose You”. Sounds from a glassy parlor.
Anais Reno teams up with pianist Emmet Cohen’s band of Kyle Poole/dr, Russell Hall/b and some guests on this interpretation of the Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn songbook. Tenor saxist Tivon Pennicott brings in some swinging fun to “Take the ‘A’ Train” and gives muscle to Reno’s bearing down on “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But The Blues”. Juliet Kurtzman’s violin helps Reno carry the torch on the obscure and lonely “It’s Kind of Lonesome Out Tonight” and is reclining on “Mood Indigo”. Reno richly agonizes on a “Chelsea Bridge/A Flower is A Lovesome Thing” medly and is wanderlust as she weaves around Poole’s brushes on “Day Dream”. Cohen gets solo space on the etude “UMMG” while sauntering with Reno on “I’m Just A Lucky So and So”. Excellent Ellingtonia.
Classic and traditional toned vocalist Rebecca Kilgore trios it up with pianist Randy Porter and bassist Tom Wakeling (and an uncredited guitarist) and guest Dick Titterington on cornet for some sublime swing. Kilgore is savvy and relaxed to the pulse of “Dear Bix” and fun for a cheery “Run, Little Raindrop, Run”. Cozy as a Doris Day film on “Talking To Myself About You” and reflective to Porter’s saloon stride on a “I Wanna Get married”. Confident on “Like The Brightest Star”, she can get hip with Wakeling on the bouncy “Day In-Day Out”, bopping on “The Gentleman Is A Dope”. Timeless treasure.
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