Verona Chard's Fever

Another girl singer singing Fever - the Warbler Works must be doing extra shifts!

These were my first thoughts when the CD landed on my doormat. Forget about the immigration figures - how about the number of 'Jazz Judy's' that are, seemingly, springing up by the hour? We are only a small island and must be approaching saturation point.

However, Verona Chard is a cut above many of the current crop of chantelles and I have to admit I'm quite taken with her interpretations.

With a name like Verona it isn't surprising she has chosen to draw on The Bard either directly or by inference.

Maybe it's because of the material I find the voice a little theatrical - I would guess that possibly Verona's 'Opened in Venice' at some point in her life. Not that this is a drawback in fact it adds a certain charm - a voice that, to me, sounds totally English with ne'er a hint of Brooklynese. She takes chances and they work beautifully on this CD

None of the numbers attempt to recreate the originals - you're not going to out-gun Peggy on Fever or Cleo on Dunsinane Blues. Instead you get Verona's own take enabling her to proudly hold her head up high.

Combining Tchaikovsky's love theme from the ballet Romeo and Juliet with Shakespeare's 'Hark what light through yonder window breaks etc' works really well even as a bossa-nova.

In and around her Alan Barnes - the Bird of Stratford on Avon - dances delightfully in and out without intrusiveness whilst Ray Wadsworth has a down home Humph feel to his solos.

You can find out more about the album, hear clips, and check out Verona's tour Itinerary here.

Lance.