Jackie Ryan: This Heart of Mine

Each of her four CDs shows the steady growth of this remarkably talented artist, but This Heart of Mine deserves superlatives. How about the spell she weaves on that newest of standards, the jazz elegy to summer, “Estate,” or her moving version of Jobim’s seldom recorded tender “Anos Dourados” (Golden Years) sung in perfect Portuguese. The seldom-performed “Maybe September” is an exceptional song from a very non-exceptional movie (“The Oscar”). Alec Wilder’s “Moon and Sand” is getting more attention the past decade, and well it should. Ryan’s version is a wonderful and most tender addition to the growing canon. Other highlights include a gospel-tinged “Jump for Joy” and a graceful “Sleepin’ Bee.” Each track is meticulously constructed but still, the feeling of improvisation—so important in jazz – abounds. The “construction lines” are not visible—only the spontaneity and the joy.

You can tell a lot about a singer by the accompanists she keeps and Jackie Ryan keeps the best. This Heart of Mine features two different marvelous core bands. Four Los Angeles-based master musicians include pianist Jon Mayer, drummer Roy McCurdy, guitarist Barry Zweig, and bassist Darek Oles. A San Francisco contingent includes either Leonard Thompson or pianists Amina Figarova, bassists John Wiitala or Ruth Davies, and percussionists Omar Clay or Jason Lewis. The legendary Toots Thielemans adds his lyrical magic on the aforementioned “Estate” and “Maybe September.” Saxophonist Ernie Watts delivers some memorable contributions on three cuts. Yutaka Yokokura provides beautiful strings and Steve Erquiaga gentle bossa guitar rhythms on Jobim’s “Anos Dourados.”

Jackie Ryan has a full-bodied voice and she intoxicates with a combination of power and perfume. She can be cute without cloying, sassy without being smug, she can swing but handles ballads with an assured delicacy and depth. Jackie is the real thing, an artist to delight in today and to follow in the future. This Heart of Mine is sixty seven minutes of glorious music.

Visit Jackie Ryan on the web at www.jackieryanmusic.com .

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