Mary Foster Conklin: Blues For Breakfast

Mary Foster Conklin is a well-regarded cabaret singer in the metropolitan New York area. She was acknowledged with the Best Jazz Singer award from MAC in 1999. She began researching Dennis as subject for this album in 2003 after her pianist/arranger, John di Martino, showed her the long-lost verse for "Angel Eyes." Conklin was wise enough to include several of Dennis' lesser-known compositions as well as his most famous tunes. Her voice is dramatically suited for the cabaret setting, and the album comes across as a combination of cabaret and jazz. Certainly the inclusion of artists like pianist/arranger John di Martino, tenor player Joel Frahm, guitarist Tony Romano, bassist Sean Smith and drummer Ron Vincent provides a jazz setting for the album.

Matt Dennis used a number of collaborators, insofar as lyrics were concerned. For the chosen tracks on this album, his most frequent partner was Thomas Adair, who penned the words for "Will You Still Be Mine," "The Night We Called It A Day," "Let's Get Away From It All" and "Violets For Your Furs." Combined with "Angel Eyes," this list is generous, and it's astounding to consider the number of vocalists and jazz players who have provided us with versions of these songs.

Bobby Troup also worked with Matt Dennis, and two of his lesser known efforts, "Where Am I To Go?" and "Learn to Love," are given a rare airing by Conklin. The title tune, a perfect B-movie theme, is given an appropriately noirish reading. That tune was co-written by Jerry Gladstone [no relation]. Cuban musician David Oquendo provides a Spanish translation of "It Wasn't The Stars That Thrilled Me" and sings in duet with Conklin.

I can't say enough about the musicianship of the group, led by John di Martino, who very recently provided a similar service for another cabaret artist, Barbara Fasano, on her Written In The Stars (Human Child, 2006). Surely, it can't be a coincidence that Di Martino has taken respected cabaret performers and provided jazz voicings for these albums.

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