Jazz vocalist Judy Whitmore is so adept at taking the classics and making them her own, and in the process taking her listeners on a wonderful journey. It's not so much that she pulls us into the past, but changes the present and allows us to move through a much altered and much preferred reality. And she does it so naturally that it shocks us when we discover that the world has not changed simply by us playing this music. But perhaps, at least, something within us has changed, something within us has improved. In 2024, Judy Whitmore released Come Fly With Me, an album featuring some outstanding musicians backing her, and many of those same musicians return to perform on her new album, Let's Fall In Love. Folks like Josh Nelson on piano, Andrew Synowiec on guitar, Edwin Livingston on bass, Kye Palmer on trumpet, Andy Martin on trombone, and Hendrik Meurkens on harmonica all lend their great talents to this album. And once again Chris Walden produced and arranged the album. And this time there is a large string section backing her as well. And Peter Erskine is on drums. This album features love songs, those great timeless numbers that should find us all united in experience and desire and joy. Songs by Cole Porter, songs by George and Ira Gershwin. You know them. Come and take a fresh journey with them.
Judy Whitmore opens the album with a delightful rendition of "I'll Take Romance," a song written by Ben Oakland and Oscar Hammerstein II for a 1937 movie of the same name. "I'll take romance/While my heart is young and eager to fly/I'll give my heart a try/I'll take romance." Yes, this song takes us on a romantic and magical ride, her voice lifting us up and out of the muck of current events. And it makes us feel a bit younger. Jeff Driskill delivers a really nice, though perhaps a bit too brief, lead on saxophone. Judy follows that with "All Of You," the Cole Porter song. Hendrik Meurkens is always so impressive on harmonica, and this track features some wonderful work from him right at the start. "So love at least a small percent of me, do/For I love all of you." We hear that love in her voice. She really inhabits these songs. She isn't selling them, she isn't putting them on like an outfit; she is living them. And Hendrik delivers some more excellent work on harmonica in the middle. In his hands, that instrument can do the work of other instruments, like clarinet or even trumpet.
"A Time For Love" is a song that was nominated for an Oscar (it lost to "Born Free"). This track contains some beautiful work on strings, and touching, tender work on piano, including a wonderful lead in the second half. "As time goes drifting by/The willow bends/And so do I." What a moving description of aging. Judy really knows how to deliver these lyrics. I hope we can all look back and say we've experienced a time for love. For, really, what else is there? The mood turns lighter, more playful with "Taking A Chance On Love." There is cheer and excitement in Judy's delivery, and a great deal of happiness in Josh Nelson's playing. His piano lead is a large part of what makes this track stand out. I'm also digging that bass line. "Now I prove again/That I can make life move again/I'm in the groove again," she sings, and we can hear the truth of those words, the proof of those words. I hope we all can share in that feeling, everyone should take a chance on love. For again, what else is there that's really worth a damn?
I'm going to say it again: You can never go wrong with Gershwin. On this album, Judy Whitmore covers a couple of Gershwin songs. The first is "How Long Has This Been Going On," a song from Funny Face. When she sings, "There were chills up my spine," we can hear that sensation in her voice. And Josh Nelson's answering piano part is like a little run up one's spine. It's a nice moment, one of many special touches on this track. And when she sings, "I know how Columbus felt/Finding another world," we feel that world opening up before us. That's followed by the album's title track, "Let's Fall In Love." On this one, Ty Taylor joins her on vocals, this song delivered as a wonderful duet. "Let's fall in love/Why shouldn't we fall in love/Our hearts are made of it/Let's take a chance/Why be afraid of it," she sings. And he sings, "Oh, let's close our eyes/And make our own paradise." That is key in these days, I think; we have to make our own paradise, because other people will make a mess of things if we leave it up to them. I also like how this song contains a playful nod to Hamlet's most famous soliloquy. This track also contains a delicious lead on bass.
"The Very Thought Of You" is one of my favorite songs. I love that sequence at the end of Home For The Holidays when this song plays. It's so beautiful, it brings tears to my eyes. The rendition here is absolutely wonderful, and it's also cool, with that work on trombone. There is a breathy quality to her delivery of the line "and I forget to do," which works really well. And on the line "I'm living in a kind of daydream," there is a cheerful, dreamy element to her delivery. The strings really add to that feeling. This song is love. It just is. You feel it throughout your body when listening to this rendition. Please, everyone, let's have love be the reigning emotion in our silly, strange, scary world. And it can start with this song. "The Very Thought Of You" is followed by "It's All Right With Me," the album's second Cole Porter song. It begins with some moving, gorgeous work on strings, and then the guitar takes on a bossa nova flavor. "It's the wrong song/In the wrong style/Though your smile is lovely/It's the wrong smile." Ah, not one of the songs on this album is the wrong song. Judy Whitmore delivers a dramatic performance, really getting into the character of this song. This track also features more wonderful work on piano.
How is this for a declaration of love, the opening lines of "Crazy He Calls Me": "I say I'll move the mountains/And I'll move the mountains/If he wants them out of the way." She delivers the lines in such a straightforward way that we believe she believes she can and will do it. Of course, those lines are followed by these: "Crazy, he calls me/Sure, I'm crazy/Crazy in love, I'd say." And she is delighted to admit she's crazy, which is adorable. Is love a kind of madness? Perhaps, but if so, we should all be so crazy. Who knows, maybe we can move mountains. I love the light aspect to the piano work of this track, like a little dance on the clouds. Then we get "More Than You Know." "Lately I find/You're on my mind/More than you know," she sings here. There is a reason why these love songs endure, why they affect us so strongly, and perhaps that is why I just don't understand how our lesser qualities seem to govern the course of events. Are some people just incapable of love? Are they not moved by these songs? It seems unfathomable.
As I mentioned, Judy Whitmore treats us to two Gershwin tunes on this album. The second is "I've Got A Crush On You." "I fell/And it was swell/You're my big and brave and handsome Romeo/How I won you, I shall never, never know." We hear the adoration in her voice, and can't help but be moved by it. I still am delightfully surprised that I somehow won the heart of the most beautiful woman. How did that happen? Perhaps the piano can offer an answer. And the strings embrace us. This beautiful album concludes with Irving Berlin's "How Deep Is The Ocean." This is a time of questions, and this song begins with one: "How much do I love you?" She seems to answer it with other questions: "How deep is the ocean?/How high is the sky?" Isn't it great when love feels so immense that it couldn't possibly be contained within our tiny frames? It is within and all around us, as deep as the ocean, as high as the sky. It seems only fitting that there would be a saxophone lead on this one.
CD Track List
- I'll Take Romance
- All Of You
- A Time For Love
- Taking A Chance On Love
- How Long Has This Been Going On
- Let's Fall In Love
- The Very Thought Of You
- It's All Right With Me
- Crazy He Calls Me
- More Than You Know
- I've Got A Crush On You
- How Deep Is The Ocean
Let's Fall In Love was released on April 25, 2025.
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