Denise Donatelli
When Lights Are Low
Savant Records
www.jazzdepot.com
By George W. Harris

The great thing about vocalist Denise Donatelli is that, while she eloquently delivers warm and pristine readings of standards, she isn’t satisfied with the product sounding standard. She’s employed the arranging powers of pianist Geoffrey Keezer to create create richly textured and harmonized readings of songs that perk up your ears. Material like “Don’t Explain” and “When Lights Are Low” have extra shadows, both instrumentally and vocally, and other tunes like “The Bed I Made” or Cedar Walton’s “Enchantment” are embracingly passionate without sounding a bit maudlin. Support by Hamilton Price/b, Peter Sprague/g, Jon Wikan/dr bends without snapping, while Donatelli herself has a voice that draws you closer and closer until it’s too darn hot.