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CORLISS DALE Fascinating Rhythms MAINSTEM MSTCD0040 [52:14]

Fascinating Rhythm – verse (George and Ira Gershwin) [1:23]
Jazz (Forestieri-Tadman) [5:12]
What a Little Moonlight Can Do (Woods) [2:53]
Melodia Triste (Forestieri-Dale) [5:17]
Our Day Will Come (Hilliard-Garson) [3:24]
Wonder Why (Cahn-Brodsky) [3:58]
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me (Noble) [3:11]
This Love’s Got A Hold On Me (Forestieri-Dale) [3:11]
Wonderful, Wonderful (Edwards-Raleigh) [4:14]
Hit Me With A Hot Note and Watch Me Bounce (Ellington-George) [4:40]
Without A Song (Youmans-Rose-Eliscu) [4:08]
I Concentrate on You (Porter) [5:18]
Fascinating Rhythm (George and Ira Gershwin) [3:43]
Corliss Dale (vocal); Warren Luening (flugelhorn); Bob McChesney (trombone); Doug Webb (saxophones); Rick Rossi (flutes); Lou Forestieri (piano, keyboards); John Chiodini (guitar); Kenny Wild / Octavio Bailly (bass); Ralph Humphrey / Sandro Feliciano (drums, percussion)
Recorded at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, no date given

This is a pleasant, if not especially remarkable, album of mainstream jazz-swing vocals by a talented singer and a highly professional band. This is Dale’s debut album. She sings with a satisfying attention to what she’s singing – her patterns of verbal stress and intonation are always at the service of the words in intelligent and stimulating fashion. Her voice and her approach are not strikingly individual but she holds the listener’s interest throughout and there are many nice details.

Dale has worked for a good few years as a vocalist – as a soloist and in everything from backing vocals to advertising jingles; she has also worked as an actress in California and elsewhere. Her husband, Lou Forestieri, has very extensive experience as a pianist, composer and arranger. He has worked with such major figures as Zoot Sims, Johnny Hartman and Peggy Lee. He has also

Most of the repertoire on the CD comes from the Great American Song Book. Familiar standards such as ‘Our day Will Come’ and ‘What a Little Moonlight Can Do’ get attractive and assured performances, imbued with jazz inflections and graced by some brief solos from the band. Opening the CD with just the verse of ‘Fascinating Rhythm’ and then fading out doesn’t make for an enticing opening – more for listener frustration. The full performance which closes the album would surely have made a more inviting welcome to the CD? Nor are the strings added to some tracks a great success.

It is good, though, to hear that rarely performed piece of Ellingtonia ‘Hit Me With A Hot Note and Watch Me Bounce’. Of the originals, ‘This Love’s Got A Hold On Me’ is perhaps the stand-out track, a joyous number sung with infectious delight by Dale and featuring some particularly good piano work from Forestieri.

This is a singer and a band which would be a real pleasure to hear in a club setting; I’m sure they would make for a very enjoyable evening out. Perhaps in such a context there might be the chance for the musicians to stretch out a bit more than they can here. The fairly short solos from, for example, the trombone of the outstanding Bob McChesney (particularly) or the saxes of Doug Webb, whet the appetite for more.

An enjoyable hour’s listening for those with a liking for the classic American songs. There’s a happy feel to the proceedings which, on the whole, it is easy to share.
 
Glyn Pursglove

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