Jazz Journal

★★★★

As early as 1955, Julie London proved that you could produce a fully integrated, enjoyable vocal jazz album with just guitar and bass, in her case Barney Kessel and Ray Leatherwood. Georgia Mancio proves that it can work just as well today as long as you have a gifted, flexible vocalist, an inventive, improvising guitar player and a rock-solid bassist, in her case Nigel Price and Julie Walkington.

The voice and phrasing have always been excellent but Georgia is singing more jazz today than she was, say five years ago. Softly indicates how warm and string the voice is as Julie provides a sympathetic backing on bass behind her. There is a warm fullness about all the performances on this disc with the voice strong in all registers and some tasty guitar and bass lines interweaved with Georgia’s singing that ensures that drums or additional instruments are never missed.

An attractive and well chosen batch of standards also helps to make this vocal jazz CD more than a little special. Georgia stretches her jazz-orientated voice over every selection and is rewarded with some of the best support I’ve heard in this format by guitar and bass. Simple Life is an easy-pulsing swinger and Vermont a lush ballad reading. All tracks are attractive and Georgia’s jazz chops go from strength to strength, including a bit of tasty scatting, particularly on Falling in Love. This is an ideal disc for late-night jazz listening and will repay endless auditions.