Album Review: These Precious Days from Mary Foster Conklin

Album:  These Precious Days
Artist:  Mary Foster Conklin
Label:  Mock Turtle Music
Website:  www.maryfosterconklin.com

Combine elements of smooth swinging blues with a spicy cabaret swagger and add Broadway showtunes vibrations, and the result is jazz vocalist Mary Foster Conklin's latest offering These Precious Days.  Conklin's vocals gleam elegantly while the caterwauling strings of Sara Caswell's violin add contrasting textures with a pinwheel of swirling squeals ornamenting the melodies.  Pianist John Di Martino's sense of melody is impeccable, and guitarist Guilherme Monteiro's reflexes for harmony are instinctive.  The rhythm section of Ed Howard on bass, Vince Cherico on drums, and Samuel Torres on percussion play pristinely, keeping the momentum in synchronicity with Conklin's lead.

The slinky swagger of Conklin's vocals traversing leisurely across "Some Cats Know," composed by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, has a seductive hold on the listener, radiating the sonorous of a siren. The arching spikes made by Monteiro's guitar chords ratchet up the flirtatious vibe of the melody.  "Come in from the Rain," scribed by Melissa Manchester and Carole Bayer Sager, is handled with a sensitivity that is palpable.  Conklin's performance displays a visceral reverence as she pleads, "There's so much to say / No need to explain / Just an open door for you / To come in from the rain."

The Latin flare in Torres's percussion flutter with a breezy caress across "Just For Now" as Conklin's vocals latch onto the gently rippling swells.  The torchlight atmosphere of "A Little White Ship" focus on Conklin's storytelling phrasing, carrying the listener along an ethereal plane, bewitched by her alluring touch to be pulled away from temporal conditions.  The intimate ambience of "Heart's Desire" draws out a fragile voicing in Conklin's timbres, highlighting the protective motherly stroke in her delivery.

Conklin's phrasing, her rich timbres, and her warm caresses possess a feminine touch as seductive as a siren while displaying the maternal instincts of a protective mother.  A New Jersey native who came to New York to pursue theatre, Conklin presents an assortment of contemporary smooth swinging blues tunes and jazz standards, performing them all with a deep understanding of how to draw her audience into the music and hold them transfixed.

Musicians:
Mary Foster Conklin - vocals
John Di Martino - piano
Sara Caswell - violin
Ed Howard - bass
Vince Cherico - drums
Guilherme Monteiro - guitar
Samuel Torres - percussion