Wendy Kirkland Quartet - Piano Divas

The Guardian 80

(Blue Quaver)

For her debut album, Wendy Kirkland has mostly chosen songs recorded by other piano-playing singers, but wisely avoids any hint of imitating their styles. Indeed, she has a fully fledged vocal style of her own that is more than capable of doing justice to material ranging from Leonard Bernstein to Hank Williams. She plays proper jazz piano, too, and her excellent band has the settled-in sound of a regular working unit. I particularly enjoyed the version of Some Other Time, virtually a duet between her and guitarist Pat Sprakes, and the scat vocal unison with piano in Slow Boat to China. A very classy debut.