05 March 2010
	JAZZ CD REVIEW Whatever floats your boat By Don Albert

I did my first Jazz Cruise to the Caribbean in 2003. More than 80 world-class jazz musicians and vocalists performed in various rooms and bars on the ship. Oddly enough, I was also impressed by a young woman passenger who sat in and sang at any opportunity just so people and other musicians could hear her; in other words, she paid her dues. She comes from Newark, her name is Antoinette Montague and her CD Behind The Smile (Allegro Music/In The Groove) proves her effort was more than worthwhile. She reminds me of a kind of cool Dinah Washington. Her diction is excellent, her voice-control brilliant (listen to the long note she holds at the end of "I Hadn't Anyone Till You") and she's able to swing, sing the blues and add a little R&B. Actually she is able to inject a bluesy feel into whatever she sings. The 13 tracks are impressive. Her repertoire also includes some seldom-heard songs such as Dave Brubeck's "Summer Song" and Billy May's " Somewhere In The Night", as well as Duke Ellington's music for the "23rd Psalm". She's almost raunchy on Bill Broonzy's "Give Your Mamma One Smile", swings madly on "The Song Is You"; she is downright groovy on "Get Ready" and lilting on "Meet Me At No Special Place". Her accompaniment is impeccable, as one would expect from Bill Easley (sax, flute and clarinet). He once toured SA with organist Jimmy Smith. Then there's Mulgrew Miller (piano), Peter Washington (bass) and Kenny Washington (drums). Another satisfying CD is Watch What Happens: Charito meets Michel Legrand (CT Music). Filipina singer Charito is based in Japan. Her repertoire here consists of 13 Legrand classic compositions, four of which have her singing with Legrand himself at the piano. He also sings and scats. It's an intimate CD of classy music, classy singing and classy backing of strings and soft trumpet interludes. For Latin jazz buffs who like the fat sound of trombones, there's the Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet CD Bien Bien! (Patois Records). Besides trombonist Wallace are guest trombonists Julian Priester and Dave Martell. The nine tracks range from Eddie Harris's "Freedom Jazz Dance", featuring vocal scatting, and Kenny Washington and Orlando Torriente; Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood" and "Going Up!" to Sonny Rollins' "Solid" and Coltrane's "Africa". All are given a Bomba, Cha-Cha, Bolero or Cu-Bop rhythm to play over. This is not soft bossa-nova stuff, it's real Latin Jazz.