Rebecca Kilgore • A Little Taste

Ever since she made her recording debut during 1981-83 and particularly since the early 1990s, Rebecca Kilgore has been one of jazz’s top swing singers. Her inviting voice, impeccable articulation, friendly personality, perfect placement of notes for maximum swinging, and complete understanding of the lyrics that she interprets have put her at the top of her field. Unfortunately her serious health problems have resulted in her retirement. Prior to the release of A Little Taste, her last recording was in late 2020. There is no recording date listed on A Little Taste but, since it is an album of Dave Frishberg’s songs and the pianist-composer passed away on Nov. 17, 2021, one would imagine that this was made in 2022. Rebecca Kilgore worked with Frishberg frequently in Portland where they performed twice a week at the Heathman Hotel for five years. If only a full evening had been filmed! A Little Taste consists of three songs on which Frishberg wrote both the music and the lyrics, six pieces in which he supplied the words to instrumentals by Johnny Hodges, Johnny Mandel, Alan Broadbent, and Dan Barrett, and two songs (“Telephone Song” and “Ah, So Pure” which is also known as “Martha”) that he enjoyed performing. Frishberg’s lyrics were very much rooted in 1950s New York and were often nostalgic, sometimes humorous, and generally insightful. One could certainly argue t