Latest CD releases reviewed

BLOSSOM DEARIE
Blossom's Own Treasures Mastermix
***
Dearie, as distinctive a performer as her name, is not well represented on CD. Perhaps it's because her inimitable little-girl voice is an acquired taste, but she's a bright, witty singer who can make the most of the contrast between her vocal timbre and the peppy, knowing lyrics she sings. On this double-CD set, which she gathered from her sessions covering over two decades into the mid-90s, she wrote all the music, with words supplied by various writer friends. The setting is small groups throughout, featuring such jazz notables as Ron Carter, Toots Thielemans, Phil Woods and Grady Tate. And, no matter the company, it all comes out as pure Dearie; fans will love it but, for others, perhaps two CDs by this very idiosyncratic singer is a mite indigestible for one sitting.
Ray Comiskey

MONTY ALEXANDER
Impressions in Blue Telarc
***
The piano trio is Alexander's natural format, here supplied by bassist Hassan Shakur and drummer Mark Taylor in an album revealing the best and worst aspects of his playing. The worst? The overblown emptiness of excursions into Gershwin (Blue Rhapsody), Albeniz (En Aranjuez con tu amor) and Ellington (Come Sunday and Creole Love Call). The best, happily, makes up all but one of the remaining seven tracks, brilliantly combining his Caribbean roots with jazz on three of his originals, and doffing a deft cap to the Nat Cole trio with the help of guest John Pizzarelli's guitar. He swings with an effervescence hard to resist, aided by the superb work of Taylor. The final, I'm An Old Cowhand, however, invites unwise comparisons with an infinitely more profound artist, Sonny Rollins.
Ray Comiskey

RANDY SANDKE
Cliffhanger Nagel Heyer
***
Sandke's recent Nagel Heyer albums have included Inside Out, a very successful marriage of New York's mainstream and cutting-edge players, and the wonderfully fresh Re-Discovered Louis and Bix. This latest album is a well-structured, thoughtful blowing session with Harry Allen (tenor), Mulgrew Miller (piano), Peter Washington (bass) and Kenny Washington (drums), with trombonist Wycliffe Gordon guesting on one track. Judging by the results, everyone had a ball. Sandke's trumpet, among the most coruscating he has recorded, marries bop and mainstream seamlessly, while Allen, in superb form, seems to have reached a mature and personal synthesis of Getz and mainstream jazz. The rhythm section is a thoroughbred.
www.nagelheyer.com
Ray Comiskey