Midnight In Manhattan

Lisa Hilton is a fine pianist but this is a rather dull outing. Nearly all of the songs are taken at slow tempos, the music is mostly introspective without uncovering any revelations, and no real development occurs beyond stating the opening themes. Of the four standards, "Hit the Road Jack" lacks the exuberance one would expect while "So What," "Moon River" and "Over the Rainbow" have all been revived too many times in the past. The originals start out promising but then nothing much happens, with the only fire being provided during the occasional appearances of tenor-saxophonist Bobby Militello. Midnight In Manhattan stays at the level of being pleasant background music. Everyone involved is capable of creating something much more substantial than this radio-friendly effort, which has every selection clocking in between three-and-a-half and four-and-a-half minutes.