Album review: Josie Falbo - Kickin' It (self)

Josie Falbo (vocals) + (collective): Jeremy Kahn, Chris Sargent, Marshall Vente, Steve Million (piano); Eric Hochberg, Lawrence Kohut, Scott Mason (bass); Bob Rummage, Tom Hipskind (drums) + horns and the Crystal String Section.

So many musicians, so many permutations that it's impossible to list them all with any degree of accuracy in the space allotted which is why it's been hanging around in my in-tray since the world began, or so it seems.

Falbo has been singing professionally for 50 years and, although this is only her third album you've heard her voice many times exhorting us to, among other things, dine at McDonalds, fly with United Airlines, bank at Nationwide and drink Budweiser  with maybe a Coke chaser. In other words, a singer of jingles.

And why not? It's a regular paycheck as opposed to an album that's subject to the vagaries of public taste. No such worries with a Big Mac or a bottle of Bud!

I Get a Kick Out of You: Great big band arrangement, a few bars of impeccable scatting, trombone solo by by Steve Duncan and a tenor chase between John Wojciechowski and Scott Burns before Josie takes it out. I'll have fries with my Big Mac.

Autumn Nocturne: Sweeping strings, piano by Sargent, bring in this lovely ballad. Maybe a suggestion of Sassy in the vocal which is no crime. More piano from Sargent. Beautiful arrangement by Sargent and Carey Deadman.

Flor de Lis: Guitar intro by Fareed Haque, Portugeuse lyric by Josie, soprano solo by Jim Gailloreto over a lilting samba rhythm. To finish, Josie takes it out in English with a surprising final bar! 

Love Dance: A dreamy, smoochy tempo, a sensuous vocal, piano from Jeremy Kahn and another arrangement by Deadman who has surely inherited the arranger's crown from Nelson Riddle.

I Just Found Out About Love: A swingin' affair if ever there was one. Josie displays her amazing pitching with some stratospheric vocal leaps that aren't even a smidgen off-key. A juicy alto chorus too from Gailloreto.

Yellow Days: Laid back voice and piano building up to the entry of horns and strings.

Brigas Nunca Mais: A Jobim tune, there's always one, catchingly sung in Portuguese/English. Haque on guitar and Steve Eisen on flute keep the Brazilian mocha flowing. Nice vocalese ending.

Social Call: Geoff Bradfield (tenor sax); Steve Million (piano); Eric Hochberg (bass) and Bob Rummage (drums) are all Josie Falbo needs to put this classic to bed with her vocal chorus.

Lazy Afternoon: More sweeping strings set the mood in another chart by Deadman. Lawrence Kohut is featured on bass and Josie's languorous vocal completes the picture (if you're in the UK, don't look out the window - the ambience will be gone!).

Estamos Ai: Falbo scats her way comfortably through this Latin epic aided and abetted by Haque's guitar and the pulsating samba beat.

Chelsea Bridge: Ah! You can't beat a spot of Ellington or, to be more precise, Strayhorn to close. Piano by Kahn and vocal by Josie who will surely be ranked alongside Samara and Cécile if this album gets the coverage it deserves.

After listening to Kickin' It, I'm kicking myself for procrastinating! Lance