Nancy Harrow - An Intimate Evening With Nancy Harrow (2010)

Nancy Harrow - Voice; Roland Hanna - Piano; Paul West - Bass.

This album is especially personal for Nancy because, for the first time, listeners get to hear her performance in front of an audience. She is a jazz singer within each song she sings, but she also comes from the generation when jazz artists were supposed to be entertainers. She understands that she has to have "an act." In her cabaret act, she shows her honest self. Nothing is put-on. Her personal warmth and sense of humor are more evident in these spontaneous moments.

Technically speaking, certain things Nancy does are unorthodox, just as Ruth Olay, Morgana King, Sheila Jordan, and Betty Carter (to pick notable jazz voices of her generation) were each unique and idiosyncratic. Unlike many jazz singers, Nancy never improvises in an "in your face" manner. Nancy is not a show-off. Everything she does is subtle and tasteful. Like her accompanist Roland Hanna, she is always in the moment. Take If I Could Be With You, which I consider one of the highlights of this CD; Nancy hardly sings the original melody but she does it in such an easy manner that she makes it sound as though she is singing the melody. In some songs, especially her own compositions, she hardly departs from the original melodies. Nonetheless, she always manages to retain her jazz identity. ~Ted Takashi Ono