This is the second album I’ve heard from the husband and wife team of singers Anne and Mark Burnell (who also plays piano), and like the previous one, it is a hearty endorsement to the swinging bliss of marriage. They are teamed by Joshua Ramos/b, Jim WIdlowski/dr, Pat Mallinger/sax and Fareed Haque/g, and like the singers, they mix and match like members on a pickleball tournament.
Anne has a girl-next-door charm to her voice, with Mark in avuncular confidence, as they trade of on the hip swinger of a title track with Mallinger’s tenor in tow, while also creating rich and charming harmonies around Haque’s tasty guitar licks on the R&Bish “Two”. The couple also go at it on a slinky read of Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke” and are hip to the jive as Mark hits the right chords of the ivories on a bopping “Joy Spring”. Anne slips into something comfy as she sways on “A Sunday Kind Of Love” and Mark gives some soulful struts to the backbeat bite of “Fiets Don’t Fail Me Now”. Mallinger wails on the New Orleans grooved “The Lusty Month Of May” and Haque makes Anne look good in nylons as his gentle guitar helps her get cozy for a samba’d “Let’s Eat Home.” This is a fun couple! When are they coming over for Bridge?