After two days with my in-laws I was hoping for a day of music to rest, but Lucinda decided to stay home from work, altering my plans. She's napping on the couch now so I was able to sneak upstairs and listen to a few discs on headphones (ZMF Ori) on the main system.
I started with Betty Carter, "Look at What I Got." I love Betty and this one has crept into my small group of favorites of hers. Great tunes, and I love the way she sings of romance, it seems to mirror my own joys when I find and have it, with an element of unexpected surprise thrown in that I always feel as well. She's less of a daredevil here, more the assured mistress of her art. I think she was one of the very best.
And then on to Tania Maria. Wow. I keep forgetting how much I love her work and what a talent she is. She may well be the world's best scat singer and vocalese artists as well as just plain one of the best singers. She can scat and play so wonderfully simultaneously, better than Benson or anyone else I have heard. And she can do the same with whistling, and I may have never heard a more supple and accurate musical whistler.
And she has such energy and personality in her compositions, interpretations and performances. I now pronounce her a genius. This is an excellent compilation of her work for World Pacific Records. Tania Maria, "The Best of Tania Maria"