Album: It's Happenin' *

Song Title

Time

Will You Still Be There

Blame It on My Youth

Corcovado

In the Wee Small Hours

Farmers Market

Detour Ahead

Milestones

Nature Boy

Perdido

Album: It's Happenin' *

Song Title

Time

Will You Still Be There

Blame It on My Youth

Corcovado

In the Wee Small Hours

Farmers Market

Detour Ahead

Milestones

Nature Boy

Perdido

Performer Notes

Personnel: Diana Perez (vocals); Jed Levy (flute, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Ron Horton (trumpet, flugelhorn); Steve Davis (trombone, bass instrument); David Hazeltine (piano); Joe Farnsworth (drums).
Audio Mixer: Michael Marciano.
Liner Note Author: Stanley Crouch.
Recording information: Systems Two Studios, Brooklyn, NY (09/10/2007).
Author: Helen Sung.
Photographer: John Abbott .
Arrangers: David Hazeltine; Jed Levy.
Perez's third CD is her first opportunity to record for a U.S. label, in the company of fellow New Yorkers for this engaging session. The rich-toned alto has a touch of vibrato at the end of her phrases in "Will You Still Be There," a hip vocal version of Herbie Hancock's song. She is very focused in the breezy samba setting of the bittersweet "Blame It on My Youth." She masters Annie Ross' vocalese set to Art Farmer's "Farmers Market," with delightful accompaniment by pianist David Hazeltine and flutist Jed Levy, while she also excels in Giacomo Gates' vocalese rendition of Miles Davis' "Milestones," featuring trombonist Steve Davis to good effect. Her moving "Detour Ahead" has an air of hope, while the imaginative scoring of "Nature Boy" keeps it from getting predictable. An excellent date by a jazz vocalist deserving of wider recognition. ~ Ken Dryden

Professional Reviews

JazzTimes (p.117) - "[S]he sticks exclusively to time-honored classics, handling everything from the tricky curves of 'Milestones' and boppin' bounce of 'Farmer's Market' to the slowly unraveling uncertainty of 'Detour Ahead' and haunted otherworldliness of 'Nature Boy' with aplomb."