Daryl Sherman at Pizza Express, W1 - Clive Davis

Mike Durham has kindly drawn my attention to this review by Clive Davis in the London Times.

"The death last year of Blossom Dearie has left a large hole in the jazz firmament. No one will ever quite replace her. The good news, though, is that Daryl Sherman, an impish, swing-oriented singer-pianist whose singing has more than a hint of Blossom about it, has crossed the Atlantic again. Sherman digs deeper into the archives than most of her peers. Her most recent album takes a centennial stroll through the Johnny Mercer catalogue. If you needed a companion to Gene Lees's elegant biography of the songwriter for all seasons, Sherman's playlist would be a good place to start. In the studio she also had the help of a supple band that featured Jerry Dodgion, the veteran saxophonist. In Soho, by contrast, Sherman had minimal backing at her disposal, with just the guitarist Dave Cliff and the bassist Andy Cleyndert to keep her company. But her blend of well-honed anecdotes and astute musicianship yielded a performance that had the intimacy of a tete-a-tete, the audience hanging on her every word. While she may be no full-throated diva, Sherman's sprightly delivery and her spare soloing make an insouciant combination. Even if her voice is not built for grand passion, she delivered one of the most wistful versions of I Thought about You that you could hope to hear, one that was light years away from the classic big band swagger of Sinatra's Songs for Swingin' Lovers. Midnight Sun proved to be every bit as evocative, while At the Jazz Band Ball swung demurely. Towards the end Sherman switched her attention to the work of the lyricist Johnny Burke. A dainty treatment of Pennies from Heaven and a genial tribute to Dorothy Lamour on You're Dangerous -- borrowed from The Road to Zanzibar -- proved that she has as good an eye for buried loot as that other singer-researcher, Michael Feinstein."

Clive Davis.