Lauren Lee sings and accompanies herself on piano with a team of drummer Andy O’Neill, bassist Marcos Varela and woodwinder Brad Mulholland on this collection of originals. She shows her vocal strength and quirkiness on a twisted-inspired workout with O’Neill on the fun “X-Berg” while combining multi-tracked voices to create a misty atmosphere on the dreamy “Aback” with support by Varela. She gets percussive with her voice along with Mulholland’s flute on the artsy “She Who Journeys” and does some gymnastics with his alto sax on the soulful “Get Off Me.” Never coasting and always cruising.
Vocalist Heather Bambrick brings a nice mix of pop, Broadway and swing on this collection of tunes from the jazz and Baby Boomer songbooks. The band of Adrean Farrugia-Michael Shand/p, Eric St. Laurent/g, Ross MacIntyre/g, Ben Wittman/dr, Kelly Jefferson/sax, Chase Sanborn/fh and Carlos del Junco/harp give a wide range of moods, supporting a folksy “Wave Over Wave” or showing muscle as Bambricks tells a story on her own “Homeland.” Jefferson’s tenor works well on the Steely Dan dittie “Walk Between Raindrops” and teams well with the leader on the post bopper “Take The B Train.” A rich duet between Bambrick and Farrugia on “The Right To Love” is a delicate tightrope act, while Milt Nascimento’s suave “Bridges” has her glisten with Sanborn. Polished chrome grill.