Album: Songs From The Heart /  Artist: Sylvia Bennett /  12 tracks: 43:27 / May 1st, 2008 / Jazz Standards

Have you ever listened to a song and relived a moment?  When you listen to a good vocalist singing standards, it helps us to not only recall, but relive those special moments. Jazz vocalist, Sylvia Bennett’s performance as she coos tunes from her new CD Songs From The Heart, will bring back a flood of vintage memories, and evoke from within you powerful emotional responses, to some of the best songs ever penned. You may have heard many or all of these songs before, but you have not heard a collection of standards sung more passionately than the manner in which Sylvia Bennett delivers them. With the assistance of three of the music industry’s most prolific tenor saxophonists, the late Boots Randolph, Ed Calle and Kirk Whalum, Bennett and producer Hal S. Batt have created a masterpiece with Songs From The Heart.

This album is not just a recreation of some of the best songs to come our way, it is a beautiful gift from a talented vocalist, whose evocative vocals are no more evident than when she serves us the sizzling lines, “You made me leave my happy home / You took my love and now you’re gone / Since I fell for you,” the opening lines to Woodrow “Buddy” Johnson’s “Since I Fell For You.” With every phrase that drips from Bennett’s lips wrapped in the delicious notes of all three saxophonists, and supported by bassist Chuck Bergeron, pianist Brian Murphy, percussionist Sammy Figueroa and Hal S. Batt who doubles on guitar the songstress, will make you wish you are the one to whom she is singing as she coos, “I’m in love with you.” 

Bennett’s siren like interpretation of “Since I Fell For You,” is followed by the love forlorn girl of George and Ira Gershwin’s “Someone To Watch Over Me.”  Murphy’s gentle and elegant keys, provides a pretty accompaniment for Bennett. Kirk Whalum’s solo serves as an equally elegant bridge, before Bennett innocently coos, “Although he may not be the man, some girls think of as handsome / To my heart he carries the key.” During the later half of the song, Whalum is extraordinary as he coaxes warm, longing notes from his horn.

Bennett’s versatility as a vocalist comes to the fore when she sings “Fats” Waller’s cabaret tune, “Ain’t Misbehavin’” Ed Calle’s sassy sax serves as a nice compliment for the teasing lyrics, and Bennett’s flirtatious phrasing.  I found Bennett’s interpretation of the song, more appealing than the brassier presentation we have come to associate with Waller’s song.

The late Boots Randolph is quoted in the CD’s liner notes, and in agreeing with the observations of Lionel Hampton, concerning Sylvia Bennett, when he says, “I too like the way she sings on the beat and the wonderful clarity of her voice. She really knows how to phrase a song and she sings from the heart.”  We cannot say it any better.

Sylvia Bennett recreates standards such as the Gershwins’ “Embraceable You,” and Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers’ “My Funny Valentine,” with style, and in a smooth, dreamy voice that compels you to fall in love with these great songs all over again. Sylvia Bennett is a fabulously romantic and gifted singer, and on her CD Songs From The Heart, her performance is matched by equally emotive notes emanating from the tenor saxophones of Boots Randolph, Ed Calle and Kirk Whalum.

Reviewed by Joe Montague for Riveting Riffs (www.rivetingriffs.com)

Reviewed April 2008

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