Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Janiece Jaffe: It Takes Two / Heart's Desire

137

Janiece Jaffe: It Takes Two / Heart's Desire

By

View read count
Janiece Jaffe: It Takes Two / Heart's Desire
These two CDs by bright-eyed, Indiana-based songstress Janiece Jaffe were hand-delivered to me by the artist herself during a between-sessions break at the 31st conference of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) last January in Toronto. The earlier of the two, It Takes Two, dating from 1996, pairs Jaffe with bassist Tom Hildreth (eight tracks) or guitarist Marcos Cavalcante (six). Heart’s Desire, recorded in 2001-02, finds her in the company of pianist Simon Rowe, bassist John Huber and drummer Pete Wilhoit.

While I don’t pretend to know what makes one singer more “popular” than another, I can tell you that Jaffe has a lovely voice, about a step below true soprano, sings with feeling, enunciates each word clearly, hits every note on the nose and obviously enjoys what she’s doing. Jaffe scats infrequently but well, and like another young singer who’s fast climbing the ladder of success, Karrin Allyson, sings charmingly in French (“La Vie en Rose”) as well as English. Jaffe tends to choose slower tempos, and It Takes Two, especially, is heavily laden with ballads (eight of the last nine selections would answer to the name, and even Ellington’s “I’m Just a Lucky So-and-So” is slowed to a snail’s pace). Three of the songs are Latin-based, and as one would expect, the Brazilian-born Cavalcante is the accompanist on each (Kenny Dorham’s “Blue Bossa,” Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Rain on the Roses,” Luis Bonfa’s “Gentle Rain”). He’s splendid throughout, as is bassist Hildreth.

Heart’s Desire is somewhat livelier but not (in my opinion) nearly as well-recorded, with Jaffe sounding more breathless and mannered than on her earlier album. Even so, she can hold her own with many of her better-known contemporaries, both in terms of vocal quality and lyric interpretation. As on It Takes Two, Jaffe’s back-up crew is first-rate, with pianist Rowe the lone accompanist on “Over the Rainbow,” drummer Wilhoit and bassist Huber likewise on “Fever” and “That’s All,” respectively. On the fast-paced numbers — “Up Jumped Spring,” “Easy to Love,” “But Beautiful,” “Let’s Get Lost,” Bill Evans’ “Waltz for Debby” — Jaffe plucks a few too many tricks from her vocal bag; from this vantage point she’d have been better off interpreting the songs more closely as written, but then it’s rather easy for a non-singer to sit at a keyboard and take pot shots. She still has a pleasing voice and sings on-key, and that’s more than half the battle won.

When all is said and done, Jaffe earns high marks for musicianship and charm, and even though we’d give the nod to It Takes Two, both her albums are brisk and rewarding.

Contact: www.janiecejaffe.com

Track Listing

It Takes Two -- Blue Bossa; Til There Was You; You Go to My Head; My Romance; Blue Moon; La Vie en Rose; Angel Eyes; Harlem Nocturne; Rain on the Roses; The Nearness of You; I

Personnel

It Takes Two -- Janiece Jaffe, vocals; Tom Hildreth, bass; Marcos Cavalcante, guitar. Heart

Album information

Title: It Takes Two / Heart's Desire | Year Released: 2003 | Record Label: Catalyst Productions

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

  • Tap the share button (the square icon with the up arrow) in the tab bar below.
  • Scroll down and tap Add to Home Screen.

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.