Diane Hubka: You Inspire Me

Working with a rotating set of musicians seems to be in vogue in recent years. Ray Brown has his Some of My Best Friends Are...series, Pat Martino a couple of years back did a disc with several visiting guitar compatriots. Even Frank Sinatra toward the end of his career cut albums which featured a number of different singers. Now comes songbird Diane Hubka, with an album which has her working with what are billed as "seven of the world's greatest guitarists". A minor exaggeration, perhaps, but they're all good. But more than the guitar players what makes this session is the wondrous styling of Hubka working with a play list of tunes derived from several sources - favorite standards, Brazilian-based music, traditional and not so traditional pop. One of the more attention getting cuts is one of Hoagy Carmichael's least recorded tunes (at least by vocalists), "Winter Moon". Here John Hart lends his clear toned guitar to Hubka's stunning vocal rendition. John Hebert's bass gets some time on the solo spotlight here. Appropriately Django Reinhardt's "Nuages" is on the program with new lyrics by Frank Forte. Frank Vignola and Bucky Pizzarelli offer a lengthy, engaging guitar duet here each taking turns at doing the melody while the other plays rhythm. Just like the Reinhardt brothers, except Django's brother Joseph never got to play anything but rhythm. Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo is on three tracks, the most telling a delicious slightly Latin version of "Inside a Silent Tear".

Diane Hubka is in the same class of vocalists as Carol Sloane, Sue Raney, Jackie Ryan and others who are so good, they should be household names. That they aren't speaks volumes about the taste of average Mr., Mrs. and Ms United States. Visit Diane at www.dianehubka.com.