Cornwell, Kristen -quartet-
Distant Skies
There are jazz singers, and then there are musicians who play the voice. Think of Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and Bobby McFerrin. In Australia think of Kristen Cornwell. performing wordlessly with such vivacity, and then improvising with an intensity that never lost that vivacity, Cornwell made Jitterbug Waltz as much her own as any of her originals. Her accuracy of pitch was nothing short of sensational when scatting; leaping effortlessly across intervals that would suck a lesser singer into a chasm of embarrassment.