Swingin' From the Hip is the title of one hell of an impressive debut CD by polymath jazz vocalist, Isabel Rose. This is a woman with talents to spare. She writes essays. She writes a novel. She writes, composes, and stars in an off Broadway musical adaptation of the novel. She writes a movie. She stars in it. And now here she is, backed up at times by a big band, at times by a small combo, making it clear that there is a new voice to be reckoned with on the contemporary jazz scene. Cabaret singers beware: this is a woman who can s(w)ing.
There are a lucky thirteen tracks on the CD - running the gamut from Broadway show tunes to pop and rock classics, and each and every one has the Isabel Rose stamp on it. Her voice is clean and crisp, and she revels in the kind of originality of phrasing that has marked the classic jazz vocalists from Ella and Frank to Tony Bennett and Sarah Vaughn. At times she reminds you of big band swingers like Anita O'Day, but at times she echoes the cooler phrasing of a June Christy. Every once in awhile she throws in a nasal New York phrase that sounds like she's channeling Barbara Streisand. Still, like the best of them, Rose is a singer who makes a song her own.
The musical menu is varied. "Aquarius" from Hair opens the disc. It starts with a psychedelic intro, morphs into an infectious Latin dance rhythm, and ends with a hip take on the obligatory "Let the Sun Shine In." A quirky video of the song is available on Rose's web site.. Irving Berlin's "Lovely Day" from Call Me Madam follows. Introduced by a few bars of "O, What a Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma, it has a perky flirtatiousness that Rose seems able to turn on at will.
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