A Night in the Life

by Scott YanowEden Atwood is occasionally reminiscent of Lee Wiley in her ability to bring jazz feeling to lyrics without actually improvising all that much. Atwood really understands the words that she interprets, and even when interpreting well-known tunes (as on this CD, when she sings "When the Sun Comes Out," "The Folks Who Live on the Hill," and "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most"), she makes the music sound quite fresh and timely. Assisted by pianist Jeremy Kahn, bassist Larry Kohut, drummer Joel Spencer, and (on four songs) the fiery tenor of Chris Potter, the young singer shows a great deal of maturity on this session; she takes a song apiece as a duet with each of her rhythm section mates, and even "Moon River" (which has her joined only by bassist Kohut) is a success. Recommended.