Reviewed by Joel E. Siegel (Arlington, Virginia)

"Since I've been influenced as much by instrumentalists as singers, it never dawned on me that I didn't have that same freedom." So says Detroit-born Carla Cook, whose debut CD, It's All About Love, blends free-wheeling vocal improvisations with uncommon discipline, reflecting her roots in gospel singing and classical music. It would be difficult to name a contemporary jazz singer with an instrument as arresting as Cook's rich, warm voice, or one with such meticulous intonation.

Now based in New York, Cook has worked in a variety of musical contexts, including big bands (Lionel Hampton, George Gee's Make Believe Ballroom Orchestra) and trailblazing jazz ensembles (ESP, composed of former Miles Davis sidemen, and trombonist Craig Harris' The Nation of Imagination.) Kids have heard her voice on the Sony Playstation game "Parappa the Rapper II."

It's All About Love is designed to showcase Cook's versatility. The album's repertoire encompasses a broad range of material: standards, jazz compositions, contemporary pop songs and originals, as well as a Brazilian piece and a spiritual. On eight of the eleven tracks, Cook performs with small groups led by powerhouse pianist Cyrus Chestnut, the Oscar Peterson of the current generation of keyboardists. On the remaining cuts, the accomplished but less virtuosic Andy Milne spells Chestnut at the keyboard.

The CD kicks off by juxtaposing jazz and Motown compositions – Until I Met You, a deftly swinging adaptation of the Count Basie signature piece, Corner Pocket, and a soulful reading of Marvin Gaye's classic, Inner City Blues. Next come the album's highlights, an up-tempo version of The Way You Look Tonight with an extended, thoughtfully structured scat interlude, and a tender September Song sparked by guest artist Regina Carter's swooningly romantic violin obligatos. Cook then proceeds to display additional facets of her talent, singing in Portuguese on Milton Nascimento's Cancao do Sal and providing her own overdubbed choral backing on the reverent Hold to God's Unchanging Hand. The album's only minor blemishes are Cook's trite all-you-need-is-love lyric on her title composition, her repetitious lite-funk cover of Neil Young's Heart of Gold, and her inexplicable decision to take the achingly poignant These Foolish Things at an inappropriately bouncy pace.

MaxJazz, a new St. Louis-based label specializing in jazz vocalists, presents Cook's album in a handsome foldout package, and includes a seven-minute CD-ROM video of an alternate-take studio performance of The Way You Look Tonight. Watching this gifted young woman scat, to the beaming delight of bassist Darryl Hall, on your computer monitor is the next best thing to hiring her for an intimate musicale in your living room.

1. Until I Met You (Corner Pocket) (Greene, Wolf)
2. Inner City Blues (Gaye)
3. The Way You Look Tonight (Kern, Fields)
4. September Song (Weill, Anderson)
5. Cancao do Sal (Salt Song) (Nascimento)
6. Hold to God’s Unchanging Hand (Wilson, Eiland)
7. It’s All About Love (Cook)
8. Where or When (Rodgers, Hart)
9. Can This Be Love (Cook)
10. Heart of Gold (Young)
11. These Foolish Things (Marvell, Strachey, Link)
12. The Way You Look Tonight (Kern, Fields) – alternate take in CD-ROM

MaxJazz

Carla Cook: Europe Jazz Network profile