The Art of Vocalese

If jazz singing were an event in the Olympics, Janis Siegel, a veritable vocal gymnast, would win many a medal for the equivalent of breezing through the high-speed run, high jump, leaping over hurdles, deftly side-stepping anything that would trip up others in obstacle courses, and sailing through the ebb and flow of musical waters. Celebrating The Art of Vocalese, her performances on her new release are a master class in the title-referenced style of singing dense (and, often, fast-moving) lyrics set to jazz compositions created originally as instrumentals or a particular musician's distinctive extended solo within a piece. The late jazz stylist Jon Hendricks was a major innovator writing (and performing) such added verbiage and four of the album's nine selections feature his contributions. The program is a busy, bustling feat of fleet singing, and the supple-voiced Miss Siegel never lets us "see" her sweat.

In splendid voice, the vibrant veteran delights and impresses with variations on standards and other fare, acing each entry. And mastery loves company as only some selections present her going solo. The 100-year-old standard "Bye Bye Blackbird" is a duet with Raul Midón, who takes on the notes of a solo once performed by legendary trumpeter Miles Davis. The ever-energetic Lea DeLaria shares the mic for a spiffy and splashy "Down for Double." And two terrific tracks, "It's Sand, Man" and "Unsquare Dance" (Larry Kerchner's lyric for a Dave Brubeck composition), present the vocal trio JaLaLa, named for the first two letters of each woman's first name: Janis Siegel, Laurel Massé (her longtime colleague from their membership in The Manhattan Transfer), and Lauren Kinhan (of the long-running, like-minded New York Voices and the occasionally reconfigured group called Moss). And, left to her own devices for company, our star simply clones herself electronically to be her own harmonizing collective for the big band fave "Stompin' at the Savoy," the durable 1933 item which has also been interpolated in three Broadway productions (Black and Blue, Bubbling Brown Sugar and Swing!).

Musical accompaniment is headed by the up-for-the-challenge pianist/arranger John Di Martino, joined by nimble bassist Lonnie Plaxico, drummer Vince Cherico, and various guest instrumentalists. A booklet that comes with the CD gives some history of the creation of the songs as they stand with latter-day words. Note that the accomplished Janis Siegel contributed her own lyrics in two cases. The Art of Vocalese is an artfully entertaining enterprise.