Dreamsville

Scottish jazz singer Carol Kidd makes a triumphant comeback - after an eight-year absence from the recording scene - with this gorgeous album, which introduces two of her own, original songs. With a band headed by her longtime guitarist (and co-composer) Nigel Clark and pianist Paul Harrison, she is on top form; her sublime voice as beautiful and clear as ever, her balladeering as exquisite. The two new songs fit into the mix perfectly; only an uptempo It's Alright With Me disrupts the dreamy mood. --Scotland on Sunday It's a brave singer who steps into Ella Fitzgerald's shoes to sing a selection of standards by Rodgers and Hart, Gershwin, Porter, Arlen and Berlin. It's a braver one still who hangs a couple of her own co-written compositions among the Picassos and Leonardos of Broadway. Those songs don't quite match the rest, but comparing Scottish jazz vocalist Carol Kidd to Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan is completely valid: her new "Best of the Song Books"-style album is world-class. It's not just a one-woman affair, as Kidd's voice tones in perfectly with Nigel Clark's guitar, drummer Alyn Cosker, bassist Mario Caribe and pianist Paul Harrison. This is not the conservative collection of tunes it might seem on the surface; smooth but never bland, Kidd caresses each ballad and performs every lively number like the life and soul of the party. --Sunday Herald Carol Kidd's first album in eight years also marks the 25th anniversary of her relationship with the Glasgow-based Linn Records. And what a partnership it has been - Kidd a faultless vocalist of impeccable stylistic credentials, and Linn a beacon of artist and audiophile quality for independent British labels. A tellingly bittersweet and plangent affair, "Dreamsville" is a long overdue return to the fray after the death of her partner in 2003 and subsequent trauma-induced loss of voice. Although now into her 60s, Kidd's voice remains full of character and colour, an emotionally alert and expressive instrument she puts to perfectly-phrased, beautifully-pitched use with a crafted, lightly-worn elegance that continues to astound as it delights. Two songs are new and self-penned (with guitarist Nigel Clark): There Goes My Heart is a soft, lilting leave-taking, and Do You Believe a hymning lullaby to love and second chances. A heartfelt cover of Harold Arlen's Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe is offered as a tribute to the late Humphrey Lyttelton and benefits from Paul Harrison's softly measured piano accompaniment. Indeed the four-piece band assembled here - Mario Caribe on double bass and Alyn Cosker on drums ably partnering Clark and Harrison - prove to be a crack outfit who seize a fabulous opportunity in Cole Porter's adrenalin-fuelled It's Alright With Me to show off their virtuosic wares. Illustrating a more sensitive side, Stars Fell on Alabama glints and sparkles with a hushed loveliness that makes much of Kidd's eloquent ability to hold and extend a note. Familiar standards How Deep is the Ocean?, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square and Can't We Be Friends? are set down with consummate and engaging ease while Kidd's signature song, When I Dream, newly arranged by Nigel Clark and producer Graeme Duffin, brings things to a glowing, finely delivered conclusion. --BBC Website