Lorraine Feather - Dooji Wooji (2005)

Personnel: Lorraine Feather (vocals); Charlie Bisharat (violin); Jeff Driskill (clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Bill Liston (clarinet, alto saxophone); Gary Foster (clarinet); Jay Mason (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Brian Scanlon (alto saxophone); Glenn Berger (tenor saxophone); Willie Murillo, Darrel Gardner (trumpet); Charlie Morillas, Andy Martin, Bruce Otto (trombone); Dave Carpenter (bass instrument); Grant Geissman (guitar, banjo); Wayne Bergeron (trumpet); Russell Ferrante, Shelly Berg (piano); Gregg Field (drums).

After years of working and writing for the studios and for commercial groups, Lorraine Feather has found her niche in jazz as an inventive lyricist. Previous albums featured her very successful and witty words to Fats Waller and Duke Ellington piano pieces. Dooji Wooji, which has four Ellington tunes in the repertoire plus collaborations with Shelly Berg, Bill Elliott, Russell Ferrante, and Eddie Arkin, continues in the same vein even if most of the tunes are much more obscure. This time around, Feather, who is usually backed by five or six horns and a rhythm section, is particularly effective on the more bluesy material such as "A Ramble Through the Park," although she also does a fine job on the opening cooker "Calistoga Bay" and the uptempo "Indiana Lana" ("Jubilee Stomp"). The dozen selections are concise and the total time of the CD is under 42 minutes but what is here is excellent, almost coming to the high level of her classic Fats Waller set, New York City Drag. ~ Scott Yanow