Rondi Marsh The Pink Room

Rondi Marsh
The Pink Room
Self-released

This is the fourth album from the Pacific Northwest vocalist, and the second as a jazz singer, as opposed to pop-rock singer. On this she is accompanied by several members of the Seattle-based Gypsy jazz group, Pearl Django, including David Lange: accordion; Michael Gray: violin; Neil Anderson: guitars; and Ryan Donnelly: bass. A variety of other musicians (piano, horns, drums, mandolin) are heard on various selections. The songs include gems from the American songbook to more recent songs from James Hiatt and Danny O'Keefe, along with one original.

This is a delightful recording that with its mix of gypsy swing and Brazilian accents opening with an appealing interpretation of "Flamingo," familiar to some from Duke Ellington's recording that featured vocalist Herb Jeffries. Wouter Kellerman adds flute to the marvelous violin of Gray and wonderful playing all around. Similarly Earl Garner's "Misty" is reworked with a samba rhythm as Marsh charms with her vocal. Lange's accordion is a significant part of these performances with his orchestral ambience as well as melodic solos. Ben Lange's mandolin joins the backing for her wistful vocal on "Boy on a Dolphin."

Other performances include the spirited, "The Bass Song (Slap That Bass/All About the Bass)," a mash-up of songs from George and Ira Gershwin, and Meghan Trainor and Kevin Kadish. Jeff Lange's alto sax solo adds to her heartfelt vocal on Henry Mancini's lugubrious ballad "Slow Hot Wind," while Vince Beard's trumpet adds to the mood of the delightfully tacky "Mambo Italiano." Michael Wansley joins for a high octane vocal duet on Leiber & Stoller's "Black Denim Trousers," a song recorded in 1955 by the Cheers and later reworked by Sha Na Na among others. The vocals by Marsh and Wansley are more striking than the Bells on the original.

Danny O'Keefe's atmospheric lament "Last Call" (with a marvelous accordion solo) provides an apt conclusion to this recording. Rondi Marsh captivates throughout with her tunefulness, phrasing and use of dynamics with the wonderful backing provided on this most appealing CD.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review originally appeared in the May-June 2018 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 378). Here is Rondi Marsh in performance with Pearl Django and others at a CD release party.