Dianne Reeves: A Little Moonlight

Quite simply, the album is about the stages of love and its myriad moments. With a clean crisp production by high flyer Arif Mardin, Reeves uses her ample voice to impart the right coloration to each drama. After a scat intro that is perfectly offset by Reuben Rogers’ bass line, she demands her due with the in-your-face lyrics of Richard Rodgers’ “Loads of Love.” On Cole Porter’s “I Concentrate on You,” Reeves is entirely at home with Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo, as he adds a mystical samba air to the uplifting power that thinking of your lover can afford. Lubambo and pianist Peter Martin aid in turning “Lullaby of Broadway” into a touching treatment, as Reeves slowly delivers a sweet folk serenade to love on the street of streets.

The warm sound of trumpeter Nicholas Payton softly duets with emotionally powerful lyrics to convey the complete infatuation of “You Go To My Head,” and “We’ll Be Together Again” deftly communicates the subtleties of a hoped for, but unlikely, reunification at the start of a lover’s extended parting. The phrasing of “Skylark,” combined with Martin’s piano, convincingly make a lonely desperate request of the high flying bird to search for love; and “What A Little Moonlight Can Do” is a scat duet with drummer Gregory Hutchinson that remains an upbeat paean to the intoxicating effects of lunar luminescence. This one is for lovers.

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