Italian vocalist
Maria Patti possesses a sultry voice and she uses it to fair effect for this set of American jazz standards in which she is backed by two separate groups of musicians. The very attractive packaging and color photos of the lovely
Patti reveal a possible attempt to reach a wide audience and perhaps a crossover market. Whether she will succeed is unclear, but while her slight accent attractively gives the lyrics a bounce, the mundane arrangements and fairly typical renditions of the tunes hardly separate this one from the pack. You can hear touches of
Susannah McCorkle in her voice, and
Patti does boasts good intonation and decent jazz phrasing. The choice of tunes includes
Billy Strayhorn's "Lotus Blossom,"
Charles Lloyd's "Forest Flower,"
Cole Porter's "Just One of Those Things," and
Bill Evans' "Five." Most of the tracks find the vocalist backed by a fine rhythm section, while eight horns are added on a couple of tunes. Nonetheless, with all of the elements in place, the end results are somewhat disappointing.