Are you like me, and ready to shoot the next singer who does ANOTHER version of “My Funny Valentine”? Are there really no new songs to sing?
Well, Monika Ryan thinks that there are, and she writes, arranges and produces a bunch of them for this album. Oh, yeah, and she sings as well. Go figure!
She is teamed up with Steve Einerson/p, Rene Hart/b, and Alvester Garnett/dr, all vets of the jazz scene, so the feel sounds bona fide. Her delivery is clear, street wise and effortless, mixing conversation and vocal swoops on the clever chicka-boomed “Keepin’ It Light, Keepin’ It Mellow” while getting into a Cole Porterish mood on the darkly hopeful “Let Me Love The Whole Of You”. She coos her way around Hart on the noir alley intro to “Slipping Out” while getting elegant with the bassist on the Bill Evansy “I Found That Place”.
Einerson makes for the perfect support system, bringing up a warm intro and undertow to the encouraging “Whole and Resounding Love” and bouncing spryly on the optimistic “Reason To Be Happy”. The team makes the lyrics fit the mood, and Einerson makes the mood fit your ears.. When’s she hitting the West Coast and bringing a fresh voice to La La Land?