A Bit Of Jazz And More...

Margie Baker is a longtime jazz singer. Shota Osabe is a jazz multi-instrumentalist, but best-known for playing piano. Their primary goal is to entertain audiences, so they stick to the tried-and-true repertoire -- jazz classics, pop music hits, Broadway or movie themes, an occasional blues number. Their first recording together is one for the ages, or should I say ALL ages. This is simply solid entertainment.

The album, called A BIT OF JAZZ AND MORE..., contains some of their favorite tunes, but also ones that their fans request most at performances (and this duo has been performing together for the past 40 years!). Just like they mix it up in concert, on their duo album they include five instrumentals that spotlight Osabe and ten songs featuring Baker. The instrumentals include versions of the Grover Washington, Jr. EAST RIVER DRIVE, the Stanley Turrentine SUGAR, the bluesy Gershwin-influenced classic WILLOW WEEP FOR ME, the country-flavored 1960 Floyd Cramer hit LAST DATE and the Antonio Carlos Jobim number FAVELA. Some of the Margie vocal tunes are the crowd-pleasers GEORGIA ON MY MIND and THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES. She also tackles AT LAST (she knew Etta James growing up), the oldtime blues tune DROWN IN MY OWN TEARS, and DIZSTORY which she penned about her longtime friend Dizzie Gillespie.