Comes Love

A fine singer whose style is at times between jazz and cabaret, Elaine Dame has a clear and powerful voice along with the ability to improvise with subtlety. She is also an excellent scat singer. Based in Chicago, Dame has a beautiful tone and the ability to swing while sounding completely straight, but then she will surprise listeners by coming up with new melodic variations. On this date she is backed by some of Chicago's better musicians (including cameos from veteran violinist Johnny Frigo) as she performs 11 veteran standards; even the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" qualifies in that category. Based on this music, Dame deserves to be much better known outside of Chicago. Her performances are quite enjoyable.