Search - Cheryl Bentyne :: Let Me Off Uptown

Here's that Triple Toe Loop!

Rick Cornell | Reno, Nv USA | 05/19/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In last year's review of "Talk of the Town", I likened Ms. Bentyne's effort to an ice skater: I said that she proved there that she could do a fine single axle; but I knew she could do a triple toe loop, and I was looking forward to her next album where she (hopefully) would do that.



What can I say: Here's that triple toe loop! This album is sensational.



Whereas that album was a sort of directionless group of standards, this is an album of songs made famous by Anita O'Day, sung in Ms. O'Day's style. Precious little scatting; but a lot of bending and reshaping of lyrical lines. Check out "Tea for Two", done at warp speed, for example. Wow!



And to my ears, I vastly prefer Cheryl Bentyne to Anita O'Day. The way she caresses songs like "Little Boy Blue" and "Waiter, Make Mine Blues" is just heavenly. Her voice is just so smooth, in a way that few singers' voices are.



And something about this project got to everybody. All of the musicians seemed to drive it up a notch. The whole album sounds sensational.



This is one of the best of the year, so far, and rates a solid 5 any year. Highly recommended. RC"

Feline Comparisons

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 05/25/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This latest release by Cheryl is a worthy successor to last year's stellar "Talk of the Town," which was, in my opinion, the best female jazz vocal album of the year. "Let Me Off Uptown" might be considered no less indispensable, especially given the importance of the muse who inspired it: Anita O'Day. If a "tribute album" really means what it promises, this one is inarguably successful. It's even led to my holding Anita in higher esteem as a major if not seminal jazz voice in the '40's, '50's, and '60's.



In comparing Cheryl's versions to the originals, what I particularly noticed was the "grain" in Anita's voice, a slight huskiness betraying every one of the hard knocks she experienced as a hard-swinging, hard-living diva. Moreover, despite her utterly unique way of fracturing syllables and displacing accents at fast tempos, you understand every word. She's at once "kittenish" and "dangerous," a potential wild cat whose femme fatale persona is not the least of her attractions.



By contrast, Cheryl's smooth and effortless elocution, especially in combination with that bell-like, honeyed, infectious sound (dig those little trumpet-like shakes at the end of her phrases), has its own irresistible appeal. Hers is a voice that "lights up" a room like no other singer currently on the scene. And if you need additional reasons to add this one to the small but thankfully growing number of Bentyne solo recordings, there are the arrangements of the legendary Bill Holman, the contributions of savvy veterans like Lanny Morgan and Pete Christlieb and, above all, an appearance by the redoubtable Jack Sheldon, who sounds as good on trumpet here as he does on some recordings he made almost 50 years ago. In fact, he's to Roy Eldridge what Cheryl is to Anita--not a clone but a state-of-the-art original who nonetheless represents a vital tradition.



(The primary reason I've withheld a star is to encourage listeners to pick up some Anita O'Day--"Anita Sings the Most," "Pick Yourself Up," "Anita Sings the Winners" are all good starts--as well as Cheryl's own "Talk of the Town" ahead of this sterling successor.)"

Bravo, Cheryl!!!

B. J. Lane | Levittown, PA United States | 05/16/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have the wonderful opportunity to write my own thoughts on this new CD by the amazing Ms. Bentyne. Here, she pays a long-overdue homage to the divine Miss O - Anita O'Day, by selecting from the very best of her repretoire.



From the opening title track "Let Me Off Uptown," where Jack Sheldon brilliantly captures the essence of Roy Eldridge's contribution to the original, to the closing "Waiter Make Mine Blues," and everything else in between, Cheryl brings her superb talents (on display for many years both solo and with the Manhattan Transfer) to the fore.



Kudos to Mr. Corey Allen for his insightful arrangements and playing, and to the amazing Bill Holman for his brilliant horn charts. Cheryl is one of the few singers who can do justice to the music of this still surviving grande dame of jazz. This rates much more than 5 stars (maybe 100)in my book!!"