Susannah McCorkle - From Broken Hearts To The Blue Skies (1999)

Susannah McCorkle suceeds where others have failed on her latest release for Concord Jazz titled, From Broken Hearts to Blue Skies. Her silky voice wraps around the classic Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington "Something to Live For," like a velvet envelope. Filled with emotional yearning, her interpretations render the listener motionless, rapt in the charisma of her phrasing and nuance. Many of the songs are indicative of broken-hearted love including "Losing Hand," a Ray Charles blues favorite from the '50s about a woman with a man gone astray. But McCorkle changes her tune and rebounds with a vibrant remedy on "I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle," in classic Bessie Smith style. Susannah McCorkle suceeds as the voice of authority, a voice that has feeling and experience and one that respects the original content of each song. In contrast to her previous releases, the songbook stylist sings a dynamic collection of many songs associated with such artists as Billie Holiday, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Chet Baker and Django Reinhardt. McCorkle's singing is straight from the heart and soul and she's clearly towering in blue skies as one of America's finest interpreters of the classic song.