Janis Siegel

Janis Siegel of Manhattan Transfer has spent more time on her promising solo career during the last couple of years. Siegel is an exceptional vocalist with an elastic range who, like Ella Fitzgerald, can sing a standard straight or reconfigure it on the spot. Siegel also shares Fitzgerald's sense of natural ease -- she may be working hard yet she makes it all seem like breezy fun. But her entire recorded output shows the same weakness for variety as the Manhattan Transfer. Siegel has recorded pop, Funk, and Soul when her real strength is classic jazz and blues. Thankfully, her last couple of albums have concentrated on her real strengths, and The Tender Trap (1999) is a must-have for fans of jazz and vocal music. Siegel has swallowed the Swing, Cool, and Bop idioms whole without forgetting about the emotional center of a song. If she keeps going in this direction, she'll outshine her group in no time.