Vocalist Adriana Samargia teams u with pianist and arranger Robert Prester for a mix of originals and standards. She’s got a bright, horn like sound to her voice, dramatic n “You Go To My Head”, earnest on “Stolen Moments”, peppy for “ But Not For Me” and bluesy on “Lover Man”. Prester does well in setting the table, allowing Samargia to plead on his “Things Can Only Get Better” and agonize during “Can’t Get Over You”. Samargia tries hard to convey, overselling on “You’re Everything” and “Body and Soul”, but it’s always easier to calm down a wild one than wake up a dead one.
Accompanying herself on piano, vocalist Sarah McKenzie goes to Brazil with a selection of originals and bossa classics. She’s teamed with the best here, as Jaques Morelenbaum/cel, Romero Lubambo/g, Peter Erskine/dr, Geoff Gascoyne/b, Rogerio Boccato/perc and Bob Sheppard/fl-ts serve as gentle breezes for a fragile read of “The Gentle Rain” and a lush “Fotografia”. She is peppy with Erskine on her own “Quoi, Quoi, Quoi” and looks good in nylons provided by Lubambo on the sheer “Without You”. Her own piano work is Jobimesque, charming on coy reads of “The Girl From Ipanema” and “Chega de Saudade”. She swings so cool and sways so gently.