Tatum Langley is a Chicago-based singer who has performed both in jazz and in musical theater settings including in London and Australia with Postmodern Jukebox. On Tatum’s Swingin’ Session!!! she interprets a pretty wide repertoire while joined by the Shout Section Big Band. Conducted by trumpeter Brett T. Dean and playing arrangements by John Dorhauer along with vintage ones from the 1950s and ’60s, the orchestra at times reminds one of Count Basie’s, sometimes purposely. Their musicianship is high and the ensembles are often quite powerful but unfortunately nearly all of the solos are brief other than trumpeter Andrew Egizio on “Sing.”
Instead, the focus throughout is on Tatum Langley’s singing. She displays a very wide range during a highly expressive version of the opener, “Deedle’s Blues.” It is a surprising number to perform because it is the trademark song for the still-active Diane Schuur but Ms. Langley certainly displays her abilities. She also sings such swing standards as “Ridin’ High,” “All The Cats Join In,” “Swingin’ On Nothing,” “Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe,” and a warm ballad rendition of “I Hadn’t Anyone ‘Til You.” On “Smooth Sailing,” she does an expert imitation of Ella Fitzgerald and, whenever she does choose to scat, Ella is one of her main influences. She even manages to swing “A Hard Day’s Night.”
Tatum’s Swingin’ Session!!! is a fine start to Tatum Langley’s jazz career on records. But hopefully next time, she will be joined by soloists who can challenge her to really stretch herself.
Tatum Langley
Tatum’s Swingin’ Session!!!
Self-Released
www.shoutsection.com
Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.
Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.
