Carla Cook - It's All About Love (1999)

"...Cook is such and appealing and resourceful vocalist that she can turn even harmonically simple material into something interesting and sometimes compelling. Her interpretive gifts and sure-footed scatting are evident throughout the album, infusing the performances with a potent mixture of emotion and energy." -- Mike Joyce, The Washington Post, 1999

"Cook's CD covers a wide range of musical terrain, seemlessly incorporating songs as a disparate as Neil Young's "Heart of Gold," Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues," Milton Naciemento's bossa nova standard "Cancao de Sal," and Kurt Weill's "September Song"...and the fact that Cook makes all these styles work in a traditional jazz format is a testament to her assured phrasing and understanding of the idiom." -- Rene Spencer Saller, Riverfront Times, 1999

"For all her varied musical interests, Cook is a disciplined singer, reflecting her classical music education. Ultimately, it's Cook's feel, phrasing and groove that make her recording and performances enjoyable." --Michael J. Renner, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1999

"Her scatting, usually the stumbling block for young singers, is as inventive and thoughtfully structured as the improvisation of a master instrumentalist. With her beautiful sound, uncommonly wide range, razor-sharp intonation, and sensitivity to lyrics, Cook is set to emerge as one of the major jazz voices of the coming millennium." --Joel E. Siegel, Washington City Paper, 1999

"MAX JAZZ releases feature stunning CD packaging and sophisticated artist portraits by jazz photographer Jimmy Katz. The fashion-quality artwork harkens back to the 1950's golden age of jazz graphic design when cover art from such labels as Blue Note, Prestige, and Verve created indelible images for jazz comsumers." --Gavin Report, November, 1999