MUSICIAN MAGAZINE
“ There is an underground of female jazz singers in New York; strong, often inspiring vocalists who float just beneath the surface of public recognition in the Stygian netherworld of the lofts, clubs and cabarets. I’m thinking of women like the redoubtable Shelia Jordan and the legendary Abbey Lincoln. Add to that list Brooklyn born Roberta Baum. Baum is one of the most fascinating vocal stylists to emerge in many years, with an exceptional feeling for rhythm and textures and a commanding sense of swing. There is humor in her singing too, but of a more sardonic nature. Like Abby Lincoln, she has great theatrical presence - relying more on subtle rendering of the lyrics than on diva’s chops-and often interjects conversational tones and cadences into her choruses, going more for the emotional effect than the scale tones of the song. Its always music because she has an uncanny way of modulating into neighboring key centers, like she did on a unique rendering of “My Favorite Things” sounding more like the illegitimate daughter of Fanny Brice and Miles Davis than Coltrane. Whenever she went outside, pianist Davis was with her every step of the way with Wynton Kellyish chord movements and bouncing clusters. On “Like Someone In Love“ she dueted with the fine bassist Mark Helias, hanging on to slightly vinegary long tones and letting the chords gradually catch up to her; then calling in master drummer Ed Blackwell with a vibrating elastic shriek, she took a series of occasionally wordless choruses that escalated into a percussive conversation- her ear for drum patterns alone sets her a notch above most singers. And in the tradition of the great jazz vocalists, Baum can make a ballad bleed, as she and Davis did on Duke Ellington’s lovely composition “Heaven.“
Chip Stern