Savoy's Jazz Singers entry in their Giants of Jazz series boasts a lineup that includes some of the brightest stars in the vocal jazz firmament. Drawing from the labels Savoy currently owns the rights to (Savoy, Denon, and Muse), the collection features some "Giants of Jazz" at their best and some at times when they were perhaps not at their best. On the bright side are
Billy Eckstine's amazing "I Love the Rhythm in a Riff, "
Jackie Cain and
Roy Kral's silky and urbane version of "Deed I Do,"
Jon Hendricks' fun and inventive take on "Freddie Freeloader" (featuring
Bobby McFerrin,
Al Jarreau, and
George Benson),
Eddie Jefferson's wild "The Birdland Story," and
Johnny Hartman's effortlessly cool "Just Me, Just You." On the not so bright side are
Sarah Vaughan's "I'll Wait and Pray," which is not one of her strongest performances (and the sound quality is of bootleg nature),
Jimmy Rushing's tedious "Jimmy's Round the Clock, "
Mark Murphy's pretentious take on "Parker's Mood" from 1981, and
Carmen McRae's "Billie's Blues," on which she barely even sings. They could have picked a song from her Denon record
Any Old Time that gives a better idea of how wonderful she is. The disc is a decent sampler of what Savoy has to offer, but a more judicious selection process would have made it a more pleasurable listen. ~ Tim Sendra