Janiece Jaffe
November 2000

Janiece Jaffe
Catalyst
2000

It Takes Two
Reviewed By
Dave Nathan

One of the Midwest's most talked about jazz vocalists Janiece Jaffe, is blessed with an amazingly warm, sweet voice. With an exceptional range and a beautifully tender way of expressing a lyric in an almost achingly intimate fashion, Jaffe brings her vocal gifts to light in one of the most vulnerable of musical situations, the duet, on her latest CD It Takes Two(Catalyst JLJ-0020).

Jaffe sets the mood perfectly with a cool, breezy "Blue Bossa," her silky vocals intermingling with the exemplary guitar work of Marcos Cavalcante, who collaborates with Jaffe on a total of six cuts, the aforementioned "Blue Bossa" as well as: "You Go To My Head," "La Vie En Rose," "Rain On The Roses," "Just A Lucky So And So," and "Gentle Rain."

For the remaining eight of It Takes Two's fourteen selections, Janiece Jaffe is joined by bassist Tom Hildreth, wrapping gorgeously sinuous lines around tunes like "Angel Eyes," "'Till There Was You," "My Romance," "Blue Moon," and "Harlem Nocturne," "The Nearness Of You," "Prelude To A Kiss," and "Lotus Blossom." Inspired by singers like Janet Lawson, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Cleo Laine, Minnie Ripperton, Joni Mitchell, Betty Carter, Carmen McRae, Peggy Lee, and Bobby McFerrin, Janiece Jaffe maintains an original style an a distinctive voice that touches upon her influences but manages to remain refreshingly unique. Listeners may well be inspired to pick up an additional copy of Jaffe's latest, after all, It Takes Two!

Janiece Jaffe hails from Bloomington, Indiana and started singing jazz at age 19. Convinced that to be an effective jazz vocalist she needed more life experience, Jaffe devoted the next 15 years to her family, and a career in the childcare field. The experienced singer who emerged released her first recording Keep The Flame Alive in 1995. She has sung a capella with The Heartones and has appeared with the big band Mid-Coast Jazz Project. On her own she has performed at Manhattan's "Danny's Skylight Room," twice at Washington DC's "Blues Alley," as well as numerous festivals. Jaffe hopes to bring her vocal gifts to an international audience stating, " I want to expand, to become a world citizen, to travel and commune musically with other people." A worthy goal from a singer with an incredible instrument.