Every Time I'm With You

For her second CD, San Franciscan Pamela Rose has shifted the emphasis away from original material and blues to more familiar standard staples. While there are still a few originals, it's tunes by such major contributors to the Great American Songbook as Duke Ellington and Jimmy McHugh who get the singer's attention. And she does very well with them. "Bye Bye Blackbird," with Rob Sudduth's tenor laying down a soulful backdrop, is done at a much slower tempo than usual. Its arrangement and tempo are much like Mel Tormé's rendition, with Phil Woods' alto doing the sax honors. A jauntily arranged "Consider Me" is the best of the very good Rose/Nate Ginsberg originals with its catchy, swinging rhythms. Close behind is a graceful ballad, "Never Known a Morning." This time it's Jeff Ervin providing the necessary tenor sax backdrop over Ginsberg's piano. Another difference from Rose's first is that her voice has lost some of its nasal quality, becoming richer and fuller. This may well be due to the different kind of songs on this play list when compared to the previous CD. She is much more a torch singer with such songs as "On the Sunny Side of the Street," with an arrangement that transforms this old warhorse into a highly charged, emotional vehicle for Rose. But she still brings to the up-tempo material the same exuberance and sass that pour from the speakers in joyful vocal celebration. In addition to the tenor help, Ginsberg's trio, sometimes sounding like the old Art Van Damme Trio, does the bulk of the support work. This CD is another solid vocal outing for the very talented Pamela Rose and is recommended.