Ann Hampton Callaway

Blues in the Night offers a 12-track collection of songbook standards, jazz classics and Callaway’s trademark original tunes, backed on four tracks by Sherrie Maricle’s Diva Jazz Orchestra, on the rest by a core trio of Ted Rosenthal on piano, Christian McBride on bass and Lewis Nash on drums, with guest artists Anat Cohen (tenor sax), David Gilmore (guitar) and Jamie Dauber (trumpet); arrangements were provided by Tommy Newsom, Matt Gatingub, Bill Mays, and of course Callaway herself. “This is the feistiest, gutsiest, most let-your-hair-down CD I’ve ever recorded,” says Calloway. “The recording expresses the full range of who I am. Of all my recordings, it comes the closest to a live concert.” Callaway first heard the Diva Jazz Orchestra on CD, and first collaborated with the all-female ensemble at Lincoln Center’s 2005 Women in Jazz Festival, followed by an extended gig at the Blue Note. “Having spent so long as a solo artist, I find a great artistic camaraderie singing with orchestras and big bands,” says Callaway.

Overall this is Callaway’s most successful jazz venture on record to date. She’s most convincing on ballads where she seems to sing more from the heart, more soulful if not really swinging, giving more meaning to the lyrics on such tracks as “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most” and particularly her slower-than-standard rendition of “It’s Alright With Me.” The latter, with Bill Mays arrangement reharmonized with minor undertones, is wistful, showing more dynamic range than most tracks where Callaway’s theatrical bent on at times overpowers feeling. “Spring…” is more restrained than impassioned, Christian McBride swinging more than Callaway, yet her elongated phrases nevertheless pull in the listener.

And the Diva Orchestra’s great groove really pulls Callaway through the up-tempo tracks. Her original “Swinging Away the Blues” is a snappy opening of “an uplifting celebration” that Callaway hoped to create with this recording. This tune was arranged by Tommy Newsom, as was “Lover Come Back to Me,” featuring Callaway’s facile scatting, her high endings recalling Diane Schur; Rosenthal, Maricle and the band really cook here.

The “blues” theme is further represented by the title track as well as “Blue Moon” and “Willow Weep for Me.” “Blues in the Night” and “Blue Moon” are perhaps the a tad too theatrical and overstated but Callaway pulls it off with her bluesy inflections and phrasings, the title tune coming off as a blue march while “Blue Moon” has a Lena Horne scat and pop sensibility that could take the prize on American Idol. With just the trio, “Willow Weep for Me” may be the bluest track of all, Callaway’s classical training not far below the surface. Stephen Sondheim’s “No One Is Alone” further exudes a classical gloss while Callaway swings hardest on the closing tune, “The Glory of Love.”

Two more originals offer the hip lyrics that endear Callaway to her live audiences. “The I’m-Too-White-to-Sing-the-Blues Blues” with Rosenthal and the orchestra features a great line of hard swinging horns. On “Hip to be Happy,” Calloway is backed only by Nash and a heavily syncopated line from McBride—while she sits back, the bassist pushes the rhythm ahead.

A special treat is Callaway’s duet with sister Liz Callaway on the Harold Arlen medley “Stormy Weather/When the Sun Comes Out,” originally arranged for Ann’s role in Swing! Together they forge an emotionally-charged partnership.

Despite its title, Blues in the Night is not really a blues recording, nor was that Callaway’s intent. She notes, “it became clear to me that the real subject at hand was happiness: how we seek it, find it, lose it and try to get it back.” And indeed, it is Ann Hampton Callaway’s natural zest as well as her experience in theater and cabaret that really take away the “Blues in the Night” and leave one feeling “Hip to Be Happy.” Mostly it is hip to be Ann Hampton Callaway, or at least a part of her audience.

Ann Hampton Callaway will be joined by pianist Ted Rosenthal, bassist Jay Leonhardt, and drummer Victor Lewis at Dizzy’s, Jazz at Lincoln Center, September 6-10 (shows at 7:30/9:30 pm; 11:30 pm show Saturday and Sunday); reservations at 212-258-9595 or www.jalc.org. The celebration moves south to Washington, DC on September 14^th for a one-nighter at Blues Alley (www.bluesalley.com). See www.annhamptoncallaway.com for full tour information. Vicky Mountain is a Twin Cities vocalist and instructor at the MacPhail Center for Music (visit www.vickymountain.com)