Carol Kidd - Dreamsville - Jazzwise

Showcasing Great American Songbook favourites plus a brace of previously unrecorded originals, "Dreamsville" is Carol Kidd's first recording in seven years and marks 25 years of recording for Linn Records. From its supremely gentle and immensely touching opening, a slow-motion It Never Entered My Mind, to the plaintive ballad When I Dream by Nashville-based songwriter Sandy Mason, "Dreamsville" is one of the most finely crafted collection of songs you'll hear this year. "When I Dream" is, of course, something of a signature tune for Kidd, and this new version is the most lyrical and enchanting you could wish for, recordings by Crystal Gayle, Willie Nelson and Nanci Griffith notwithstanding.

Kidd also treats us to a trio of interrogatory classics - How Deep is the Ocean?, How Long Has This Been Going On? and Can't We Be Friends?. Everything sounds effortless, the singer's golden timbre and legato phrasing serving interpretations that sweep you up in their tender embrace. With its constant shifts between major and minor, Cole Porter's It's Alright With Me provides a sudden adrenaline rush amidst the largely ballad-driven set. Kidd gets to flex her majestic upper register and doesn't hold back. Penned by the singer and guitarist Nigel Clark - one of an outstanding quartet of supporting musicians - the two originals There Goes My Heart and Do You Believe sit happily alongside the standards.

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