Jazz Improv Magazine - May 2006

THE LOOK OF LOVE

How Do You Keep the Music Playing, Body and Soul, Lazy Afternoon/Summertime, Here’s That Rainy Day, The Look of Love, My Funny Valentine, I Concentrate on You, More Than You Know, This Masquerade, Bewitched, If I Never Met You, I’ll Be Seeing You.

Deanna Reuben (vocals);Marty Mellinger (keyboards); Larry McKenna (saxophone); Keith Mohler (bass); Dave Santana (drums)

By Bill Donaldson

Deanna Reuben has been a presence in the eastern Pennsylvania and mid-Atlantic states for over thirty years. Yet, The Look of Love is her first recording. Better late than never. Now, the listeners who have been enjoying Reuben’s music all of these years can take the music home with them, so to speak. In addition, The Look of Love provides exposure for Reuben beyond her loyal cadre of listeners. In fact, anyone who enjoys romantic coverage of standards would enjoy her CD.

Reuben started her career with opera, theater, and choral directing. And she has opened for such acts as Yo Yo Ma, Marvin Hamlisch and Itzhak Perlman. Yet, she chose jazz standards and ballad form for her first album due to their ability to allow her to express her emotions… and her appreciation to the people who have encouraged her.

With exacting articulation and pitch, Reuben covers songs that allow her to become involved in the meaning of the lyrics. She takes “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” at a medium tempo, distinguished by Marty Mellinger’s sensitive accompaniment on keyboard, sounding more like guitar then piano. The other interesting element of Reuben’s recording is her work with tenor saxophonist Larry McKenna, who has been compared more times than he would like to Stan Getz. Yet, McKenna possesses a similar melodic approach that appeals to listeners with urgency and memorable phrasing.

In the case of “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” as one listens, it becomes evident that McKenna doesn’t merely insert instrumental commentary during the rests, but rather he’s an integral part of the recording as the liquidity of his playing effectively harmonizes with Reuben, even as he anchors her singing during the dramatic high points. On “Body and Soul,” which Reuben takes as a bossa nova, McKenna’s affinity with Getz comes into full play as he introduces the song with a strangely familiar sounds. But no, it’s not Getz and Gilberto, but rather McKenna and Reuben. That’s the kind of insinuating appeal that Reuben seeks when she chooses a song, selecting an alternative arrangement that’s consistent with her personality.

There’s “The Look of Love,” of course, the Burt Bacharach-Hal David song of many years ago that Reuben uses as an encapsulation of all that she intends to convey on the album. Once again, it has a Brazilian feel, as Reuben and Company elongate the words “look,” “love,” “in” and “eyes” for two measures, rather than one, adding a more haunting atmosphere to the song. In fact, Reuben is entirely consistent throughout the CD as all of the songs are taken at approximately the same tempo, playing to her strengths as an interpreter of ballads. On a few of the songs, like “If I Never Met You,” strings and woodwinds appear, even though they aren’t credited in the liner notes, as if Reuben were on stage instead of in a recording studio. But Reuben seems to have found her musical niche when she performs with Mellinger and McKenna, as they complement one another…and her…to create a like-minded group that makes her debut recording one that captures the spirit of her personality.

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