Sings

Patty Waters may very well be — over the years and through the test of time — one of the more interesting and arresting singers to be associated with jazz. Her slightly grainy voice, with no small parallel to that of Nina Simone, carries this set of emotional ballads, dripping with all of the sanguine feelings of lost and found love. Waters also plays piano on the compositions, all hers save one, and the melancholy she extracts from the ivory keys matches her vocalized themes of regret and disappointed wishful thinking. Her soul sister Sheila Jordan is similar in tone, but Waters retains a gray, restrained aspect, hushed by darkness but not totally in shadows. Considering that Waters is the composer and player of these pieces brings an assumption that she has deep personal biographical reasoning and context behind the ups and downs of romance. A happy/sad nuance permeates much of this music, especially during the innocent "Why Can't I?" and "Love Is Such a Funny Thing," but also when she depicts the invisibility of a foolish "out of sight, out of mind" relationship on "Sad Am I, Glad Am I." The more positive aspects of love equate to the very brief in-lust song "You Thrill Me," but there's the pure yearning in "I Can't Forget You" and "You Loved Me" that supersedes other feelings. Everything Waters does is in ballad form, a slow lingering style that forces close listening to hear all of her nuances. But the CD closes with a 14-minute take of the venerable standard "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair" that features pianist Burton Greene, bass, and percussion. A zither-like harp piano starts the piece slow and spacious with a ghostly, foreboding mood before Waters improvises on the word "black" in a hundred different incarnations, some hushed tones but mostly extroverted wild or pained expressions. In many circles, this version has become something of an underground cult classic. This debut from Waters was followed up many years later, but it still stands as a unique vocal jazz project either revered or reviled depending on your taste level. Certainly under any microscope, she had something unique to offer, true unto herself with every note. ~ Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide