Love Letters

With her clear, cool voice, Janet Seidel successfully combines the fluencies of such singers as Chris Connor, Blossom Dearie, Peggy Lee, and Doris Day into a style that focuses on delivering the story of the lyrics rather than making her vocal faculties the message. This is the Australian's eighth album for the La Brava label, and reflects her ability to make each new release as fresh and as captivating as the one that preceded it. Each new release has something novel. Here it is William Galison's harmonica, with the haunting, sensuous tone only that instrument can produce. The musical agenda is made up of songs that bring out the best in the combination of voice and harmonica, recalling Toots Thielemans' work with the likes of Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, and Elaine Elias, to name just a few. Songs like "Baltimore Oriole," "In a Sentimental Mood," and "Stardust," classic standards all, fit perfectly within the feeling of soul created by Seidel and Galison. Add a generous helping of Chuck Morgan's guitar and the delicate drumming of Adam Pache, and out comes a different approach to these oft-saddled warhorses. On a lighter side, Seidel takes on a girlish tone (which she does very well) with another Hoagy Carmichael gem, "Rockin' Chair." One of the album's many good tracks is "Nature Boy," where Galison creates images of exotic places and landscapes. Galison shows a light but pleasant voice as he joins Seidel on a tender duet of "Every Time We Say Goodbye." Seidel has earned admission into that select cadre of singers who accompany themselves at piano, like Sarah Vaughan, Jeri Southern, Shirley Horn, and Nina Simone. One thing that stays the same is Seidel's affection for strings, which have shown up on earlier albums. But, on this session, she limits their participation to just two tracks. Love Letters is another fine production by Janet Seidel — with lots of help from her friends — and is highly recommended.