Live At The Montreux

by Scott Yanow This Blue Note CD reissue is a rarity in its own way for it features the R&Bish singer Marlena Shaw in a more spontaneous setting than usual with a trio led by pianist George Gaffney at the 1973 Montreux Jazz Festival. It is not too surprising that Shaw found her greatest successes in pop/soul music for the stylized way that she bends nearly every note and overplays the lyrics (not much subtlety here) fits that idiom quite well. She does her best on Annie Ross's "Twisted" but sounds much more comfortable shouting out over r&b vamps, making this recording of limited interest from the jazz standpoint.