Kathleen Whalen's Jazz Squad
For a fresh change of pace from the burgeoning retro-swing scene, Kathleen Whalen recently formed a new jazz oriented combo titled "Katleen Whalen's Jazz Squad". With Kathleen on vocals along with fellow Squirrel Nut Zipper alums James Mathus, Stu
Cole, and Je Widenhouse and a number of additional talented musicians this band's new albums pays great tribute to the female led small combo groups fronted by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn.
Heavily influenced by Billie Holiday's vocal stylings, Kathleen runs through an interesting program of traditional jazz standards with elegant grace. Starting off with an easy swinging "Deed I Do," the album rolls down Tin Pan Alley through "Ther e is no Greater Love", "Yesterday", and "Just You, Just Me". The entire album continues through the music of this era with the exception of the single instrumental track, "Badisma" written by Jim Mathus which gives a welcome showcase for the outstanding support band.
Unlike so many of the jazz albums coming out of the 90's this album has a truly timeless sound and feel to the music due in large to the use of traditional musical arrangements with very tight playing combined with the clean, straight-forward playi
ng of all the soloists.