Album Notes

Review by John Swenson (Editor, Rolling Stone Jazz and Blues Album Guide:

I first encountered Genie Walker's remarkable voice back in the 1970's when I reviewed the band she sang with at the time, the A1 Art Band (a 5-star effort), for the original Rolling Stone Record Guide. Over the years, I have had rare opportunities to hear her sing again, so it is a singular pleasure to encounter an album's worth of newly recorded material. As usual, Walker is working with top caliber musicians and her voice soars majestically into the highest registers. Her soulful reading of Horace Silver's "Senor Blues" is well supported by pianist Tim Jenkins and an excellent trumpet solo from Jeff Jarvis. Walker always had a sure sense of phrasing and the innate ability to swing a vocal, qualities heard to best effort on "Funk in Deep Freeze," "Sermonette" and her terrific reading of "Got a Lot of Living to Do," with its great bass accompaniment from Jeff Grubbs.

Walker is also adept at delivering ballads, as her beautiful renditions of "Something to Live For" and "Dedicated to You" demonstrate. Perhaps her best work comes on jazz standards, where her creativity in orchestrating for voices comes into play on "Honeysuckle Rose" and her ability to convey complex emotions emerges on Duke Ellington's classic "Mood Indigo." Walker's jazz instincts work well in translating other genres as well, as on her excellent work singing the blues standard "Goin' to Chicago," which she embellishes with a rap-style intro and writes new lyrics for.

And then there is Genie being her own surprising self, as on "Out of This World," which opens with a brooding statement and moves through exquisite changes until Walker is practically celebratory on the final choruses; and the eccentric, almost show tune harmonies of "Croquet Ballet" with its spritely Lou Stellute tenor saxophone solo. Whatever she is singing, you can be sure you're listening to great jazz vocals with Genie Walker takes the microphone.