Sarah DeLeo - I'm In Heaven Tonight (2008)

Sarah DeLeo follows up on the critical success of her debut CD The Nearness of You with I m In Heaven Tonight, another inspired collection of songs that reveals her powerful presence as a musical storyteller. A number of the tunes on this disc come from the American Songbook, and DeLeo's exquisitely heartfelt renditions prove that the feelings expressed in these classics are truly timeless. Whether she's singing about the euphoria of newfound love in "I Feel Pretty" or the bittersweetness of a love that might not last in I m In Heaven Tonight, we feel each word deeply, as if these stories were our own. In addition to DeLeo's thoughtful readings of standards on this disc, we find a number of ingenious arrangements of songs from other genres that are thoroughly illuminating, such as her take on the White Stripes song "In the Cold, Cold Night", which she brilliantly mined for its bluesy essence and retrofitted into a swinging number that could have been written decades earlier. DeLeo's bandmates, all stalwarts of the New York jazz scene, are in constant dialog with her, perfectly complementing her sumptuous, satiny voice and giving her room to articulate each phrase with crystal clear diction and timing.