Jodi Stevens - Girl Talk (2011)

Jodi Stevens has a warm voice, a straightforward delivery, and a swinging style, although she does not improvise that much. For this set she is joined by an excellent jazz quintet that includes pianist Ted Rosenthal, the colorful trumpeter Lew Soloff, and Andy Parsons on tenor.

Although the repertoire consists of standards, there are some offbeat choices, including "Blue Gardenia," "I'm a Woman," "He Was Too Good to Me," and the novelty "Come on a My House"; the latter did not really need to be revived! Throughout this well-paced program, Stevens sounds confident and does a fine job with the diverse material. Worth checking out. ~Scott Yanow