In Tune international

Good things come in small packages ad this disc arrived out of the blue but I’m so glad it did! Georgia Mancio is British – of Anglo-Latino background – and has worked for the past decade with the cream of jazz musicians with this being her third album. She has her own style and firmly embraces the song material and displays an attractive feel for true jazz; coming on in mellow mood for ‘Solace’ and then startingly bursting forth with a full-throttle version of the oldie ‘Just in Time’. In fact that Comden/Green/Styne number is the sole familiar song as Georgia has chosen to serve up seven story-based or reflective numbers (‘Question The Answer’, ‘Slowly’ etc) with self-written lyrics and other collaborator’s music within the albums core framework with the exception of Tom Waits’ ‘Take It With Me’ and the Portuguese-sung ‘Modinha’ by celebrated Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Described as winsome, Georgia’s voice is unstrained and quite beautiful of style and it was no surprise to find the vocally agile jazz-king Ian Shaw sharing the action on ‘Transoceánica’ and the albums title number reprise which serves to top and tail the proceedings. That in itself is sufficient recommendation to sample the lady’s wares with the delicate and varying jazz accompaniment adding to her appeal. Reading Georgia’s impressive CV, I really felt I should get out more but living in the depths of the south-west means even its largest city remains a cultural desert! Besides, radio only plays lip service to jazz whilst television confines its view of music to reality shows so there’s little chance of the mass media spotlight regarding singers such as Georgia.