How My Heart Sings

Album Review

It was this album that earned Kate Hammett-Vaughan a nomination for the Juno Award as Canada's best vocal jazz singer of the year. It is well-deserved recognition, not only for the exciting vocal presentations, but also for the instrumentalists on the session. They work hand in glove with Hammett-Vaughan for almost an hour of artistic playing. Don't let the play list fool you: This is not another one of those albums routinely offering classic standards. While they are classic standards, their handling is hardly routine. "Alone Together" is kicked off by an off-center Hammett-Vaughan chorus, as the musicians follow with a boppish excursion. Jim Pinchin's sax and Chris Gestrin's piano recall small bop groups of the 1960s. The singer re-enters, taking pleasant liberties with the melody line. Hammett-Vaughan's view of Thelonious Monk's "Monk's Dream" recalls Jon Hendricks' vocalese treatment of this impressionistic classic. But not everything is in the bop mode. Forget about other renditions of Bobby Troup's "The Meaning of the Blues." Hammett-Vaughan's soulful interpretation is dirge-like and the Pinchin sax confirms her position. But it's the creative avant-garde that prevails. The Duke Ellington/Peggy Lee standby is treated like a modern classical composition by John Cage or Arnold Schoenberg. This track recalls those poetry jazz sessions of the Allen Ginsberg hippie coffeeshop days. This fishing trip is not a pleasant, relaxed summer outing, but an adventure akin to climbing Mount Everest. Hammett-Vaughan's treatment of "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" would be downright incestuous if "Daddy" in the song was her biological father. For those who are looking for different but legitimately innovative expositions of familiar music, this album is for you. It's also for those whose musical ears are in need of significant cleaning out. Recommended.