Dawn Lambeth: I Get Ideas

Not everyone was fortunate enough—or long lived enough—to have been around for the glory days of Benny Goodman's 1937 band, with a young Martha Tilton singing songs she barely knew, and scared to death of Benny as well. But the Liltin' Miss Tilton was plenty talented, and she made a big impression soon enough. And if a listener just moved the dial a bit, Connee Boswell or Lee Wiley could be found too. They were spectacularly good singers:  great phrasing, pitch, time, even breath control. A listener could not go wrong following any of them.

They may no longer be household names, but musicians knew how good they were, and some lucky ones still do. Count Dawn Lambeth as a singer of great talent and exquisite taste who has gotten something from all her models, but is, in the final analysis, pretty clearly herself. There are no gimmicks and no screwy attempts at novelty for novelty's sake. Miss Lambeth may be best known in and around the coast of Central and Southern California but why let listeners there have all the fun? Dawn Lambeth is a gifted singer, and she can swing it pretty well too. A fan of "girl singers" in the swing tradition who makes Lambeth's acquaintance here is in for a treat. She does not need histrionics or screaming to convey emotion, which she does by inflection, suggestion and tone of voice. And, even better, she is paired with a very fine band that not only supports her but listens to each other too. What more do you want, as Isidore Rabi said of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Mermaids?

Getting into Lambeth's program, there is a lot of good stuff on offer. "Practice Makes Perfect" is a gently swinging affair, slightly ironic in intent. The chorus the band takes is well nigh perfect. "My First Affair" is led off by a sort of "vintage" sax solo, definitely prebop. Lambeth's phrasing is sinuously bouncy, Tiltonesque for sure, followed by another swinging band intervention and Lambeth's out chorus. "Thief in the Night" is practically an instrumental feature, the highlight of which is Danny Tobias channeling Warren Vache, right down to the gritty texture of his timbre. "My Lucky Star" is constructed around an insistent rhythm guitar with Lambeth and a nicely muted Tobias solo. "I Get Ideas," well, you get the idea, especially from a more reticent time. Jacob Zimmerman on clarinet and Tobias have a lovely exchange for emphasis. "I Love You" opens with a Latin beat and then moves into straight time with Tobias on Eb horn. Billie Holiday may own "Restless," but Lambeth does Lady Day justice, and, one thinks, in the keys of the original. And Zimmerman and Tobias steal the show once more. A pedantic cavil. "It" may have happened in old Monterey, but South of the border, amigos, they spell it Monterrey. Which detracts not at all from the singing. This delicious recording finishes up with a song that old souls may associate with Kenny Sargent, "Under a Blanket of Blue." Pianist Chris Dawson manages to get in some trademark Jimmy Rowles dissonances. Josh Collazo, Luca Pino and Sam Rocha comprise the rest of a nonpareil band.

This may not be a recording for everyone, because not everyone will be familiar with the models, the tunes, the genre, or the coy and repressed sexuality of another generation. But even for listeners who would like a clearer idea of why this music supported a generation of people who managed to endure almost unimaginable hardship, Lambeth will give them an idea of the artistry that sustained it.