Aubrey Johnson & Randy Ingram: Play Favorites

At its best, the pairing of piano and voice can create special chemistry, as in the cases of Ran Blake and Dominique Eade or Bill Evans and Tony Bennett. The combination of Randy Ingram's piano and Aubrey Johnson's voice is in the same class on this album. The two musicians exude a sense of familiarity and trust as they play together, and their sounds mesh effortlessly. Their song selection covers modern pop, the Great American Songbook and jazz standards and Brazilian music, all of it played with a special glow. Johnson sings in an expressive soprano and Ingram consistently plays off her sound with sensitivity and playfulness.

On "If Ever I Would Leave You" Johnson's high-pitched voice glides easily over a charged rhumba rhythm. She makes Billie Eilish's "My Future" into a torch song, singing it in a lightly bruised voice as Ingram delicately supports her. Joni Mitchell's "Conversation" becomes joyous here. Johnson's swooping dynamics come close to the writer's own singing voice as Ingram romps in accompaniment. On the Brazilian songs Johnson and Ingram play—Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Olha Maria" and Toninho Horta's "Bons Amigos"—their sound becomes more intimate. The piano work is a bit more elaborate and a soft yearning appears in Johnson's voice.

On "Born To Be Blue" Johnson's voice has a haunting intimacy that matches up well with Ingram's worldly piano, even when she stretches into soaring high notes at the end. A version of Jimmy Webb's "Didn't We," performed with a sense of grand drama, has a similar climax. The two musicians even try some straight jazz swinging on "I'll Remember April." Johnson sings the lyric with saucy energy as Ingram rolls through the melody. Then the two go off into Lennie Tristano's variation on the song, "April," Johnson's breezy scatting wedded tightly to Ingram's roller coaster piano line.

Aubrey Johnson and Randy Ingram each have successful musical careers on their own, but their work together on this album is formidable. The gauzy warmth of Johnson's voice and the bright sparkle of Ingram's piano make a wonderful team.

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