Denise Jannah - I Was Born In Love With You (1995)

Denise Jannah is a brilliant singer who is a native a Surinam (formerly Dutch Guyana). Her third CD and first U.S. release is full of very refreshing arrangements of familiar tunes by Jon Schapiro and Bob Belden. She restores the opening verse to "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" and "Imagination," is absolutely enchanting on the wild Latin-flavored "Bye Bye Blackbird," returns to the original lyric written for "A Night In Tunisia" (the far superior "Interlude") and sings her own original ballad, the attractive "Alone, Never Lonely." According to producer Gary Giddins, criticism about her accent (which is not a problem!) didn't help sales and airplay of the CD and it was dropped from the Blue Note catalog. Don't be surprised when this outstanding release becomes a high priced sought after collectable; this is one of the best vocal jazz CDs of the 1990s. © Ken Dryden