Search - Rita di Ghent :: The Standards Sessions 2

The latest outing from "The coolest jazz diva on the scene", Rita di Ghent. In putting together this second installent of "The Standards Sessions", jazz vocalist and band leader Rita di Ghent has chosen to explore [the torch] genre, and as a result, the songs she has selected here hit a more reflective note than on any of her previous efforts. Just listen to the palpable tension in evidence on the opening selection, "Good Morning Heartache", and the abject despair voiced in the dramatic "Ne Me Quitte Pas". I'm sure you'll agree that although this clearly is the darker side of love, Rita willingly goes there time and time again, and brings her amazing group of Toronto players along for the ride. While the program boldly visits some unexpectedly bright places along the way, as on "Nowhere" and Rita's self-composed novelty "Nicely Situated", the Torch theme remains constant. It becomes even clearer as the program unfolds that in the eyes and ears of our heroine, love is one hell of a rollercoaster ride. And yet, to our great relief she seems ready to take it on again by the program's end, no matter the cost. But enough analysis, let the music speak for itself on the Torch Classic from a totally modern persective, by one of our great Canadian vocal-adventurers, performed with passion, honesty, and depth. George Evans, Jazz Vocalist and Journalist, December 2003