There are jazz vocalists and there are vocalists who sing the jazz repertoire: there's a sharp distinction between the two.
Janice Borla is a jazz vocalist. "I'm an instrumentalist in a vocalist's body," says Borla, who is also noteworthy for her work as a jazz educator, focusing on the voice as an instrument. "I don't think of myself as a singer. I think of myself as a musician who is using my voice versus a piano or violin."
Borla improvises wordless scat solos, as many singers do, but is equally adept at improvising melodically within lines of lyrics - and she's not bad at writing them herself. Her interpretations are spontaneous, but nuanced, and although she does dip into the Great American Songbook from time to time, more of her repertoire comes from the original compositions of great soloists - particularly pianist Bill Evans, whose opens her latest album, .
The album is credited to the Janice Borla Group, which also comprise Scott Robinson on tenor sax and flute, Art Davis on trumpet and flugelhorn, John McLean on guitars, Bob Bowman on bass, and her husband Jack Mouse on drums.
Borla trades choruses with the instrumentalists, particularly on the group's wordless takes on Lennie Tristano's and Bob Mintzer's , both taken at a challenging pace. She also shows her ability to stretch out as a ballad improviser, without the help of lyrics, on Jack DeJohnette's , not an obvious choice.
On previous albums, Borla contributed lyrics but this time around she interpreted other people's words, using Karen Gallinger's for , and Christine Helferich's for the swinging soul-jazz of Joey Calderazzo's .
There are more conventional ballads - handled sensitively and without any ostentatious display of vocal virtuosity - in Tadd Dameron's , and Leonard Bernstein's , with its Betty Comden and Adolph Green lyrics.
