Nancy Wilson's
R.S.V.P. (Rare Songs, Very Personal) is her duets album, but unlike other recent releases by singers in this format, which feature two vocalists (and often oddly matched ones, at that), most of the pairings here are with instrumentalists like
George Shearing,
Toots Thielemans,
Phil Woods, and
Gary Burton, which means this remains very much
Wilson's baby, dominated by her hushed and elegant vocals. Only two tracks feature other vocalists, one of which, a saccharine cover of
Marvin Gaye's "Why Did I Choose You" sung with
Kenny Lattimore, is worth a plea to the gods to let
Gaye return to this veil of tears and give
Wilson a worthy singing partner. Less pop than her recent outings,
R.S.V.P. is mostly made up of ballads, highlighted by a wonderful version of
Gordon Jenkins' "Goodbye" and the elegant, late-night regret of "Blame It on My Youth" which closes out the set, although
Wilson steps up and swings on at least one track, the vibrant "Day In, Day Out." This might not be the greatest album of her half-century-long career, but it isn't an embarrassment, either (which can't always be said about some of the other duet projects major vocalists have released in recent years), and it shows that
Wilson can still wring every last emotion on earth out of a ballad -- then return to sing the second verse. ~ Steve Leggett