Allyson adds ‘70s to book of standards

The combination of jazz singers and the Great American Songbook was one of the great success stories of 20th century music. Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae -- all singing the music of the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and Rodgers & Hart -- represent, even today, essential elements in the soundtrack of American life.

When jazz singing entered a period of revival and transition in the ‘90s, the leaders of a new generation of artists -- Shirley Horn, Diana Krall, Cassandra Wilson, Harry Connick Jr., among others -- reemphasized much of the same material, with Wilson occasionally turning to more recent popular songs. Krall followed Wilson’s lead in her pop-oriented new album, “The Girl in the Other Room.” And now Karrin Allyson, in a CD titled “Wild for You,” scheduled for release in early June, has dipped into songs from the ‘70s.

On Saturday night at Catalina Bar & Grill, she gave a tempting forecast of the album via renderings of numbers by Joni Mitchell, Elton John, Jimmy Webb and Melissa Manchester. Allyson’s sunny voice, interpretive musicality and driving sense of swing can bring almost any material to life, and her interpretations of John and Bernie Taupin’s “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” and Webb’s “The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress” were exquisite combinations of song and singer. The sense of musical authenticity was further enhanced by the backing of Allyson’s longtime associates, guitarist Danny Embrey, bassist Bob Bowman and drummer Todd Strait, with the addition of Southland pianist Bill Cunliffe.

The Mitchell tunes -- “Help Me” and “All I Want” -- were less successful, despite Allyson’s thoughtful efforts to frame them in jazz settings. As with much of the material from ‘70s singer-songwriters, the Mitchell songs are so strongly linked to an individual’s emotional expression that they lack the potential universality of pieces written with a far wider focus in mind.

But that was the only glitch in a program that reached across Allyson’s far-ranging musical interests. She also sang the blues, convincingly and with just the right seasoning of humor. And by the time she concluded her sparkling program, she had offered a lovely bossa nova version of Baden Powell’s “Samba Saravah,” swung hard on Thelonious Monk’s “I Mean You,” played piano and scatted through some thorny 5/4 rhythms, and floated easily atop a high-speed romp through “It Might as Well Be Spring.”