Album Review

It seems like I've become hooked on iTunes these days. I seem to download my music from there onto my Mac, and from there, onto my iPod. This is available on iTunes and Amazon, but I ended up buying it last night while at the mall.

If you like Renée Fleming as I do, you may not like this album. It's not what you would expect. She's singing jazz and blues - a far cry from her earlier Mozart, Handel, and later Verde, Puccini, and Strauss albums. She has a breathiness in her voice that I find very seductive, and I love the way she explores the lower registers in her voice. It lends itself beautifully to this style of singing.

While we were listening to it, it reminded me of Ella Fitzgerald. And after reading what Renée wrote inside, I can see why: "One issue I faced in making this recording was in choosing a vocal style. As a college student, I sang with more jazz inflection, with scat, be-pop and melismatic treatments of words, but ultimately, I decided to emulate the atmosphere created on my favorite duo ballad recordings by Tony Bennett and Bill Evans or Ella Fitzgerald and Paul Smith; approaches so understated, I have never tired of hearing them."