Heather's many friends won\'t be at all surprised to find that she starts off right at the heart of the matter here: in up-tempo song and spoken word, she opens with a rapid-fire survey of the many facets of the topic at hand, in Jane Getz's "A Little Thing Called Love." The song is a kind of slide show summary of love metaphors ranging from images of exhilaration to ones of uncertainty and ultimately redemption, and it serves as a table of contents for this lovely and revealing recording. You\'re listening to a very personal collection, the heartfelt reflections of a life fully lived, and loved.

"My mother was a singer and played the piano from the time she was seven years old, " Heather says. "She loved the music of the 30's and 40's. I grew up singing the many standards that she played." The next set of tunes pays homage to that era. Heather makes a stirring anthem of devotion out of the standard, "Come Rain or Come Shine." She then clearly exults in the light-hearted spirit of )ohnny Mercer's lyrics - and the groove laid down by Mssrs. Ferguson and Collett - as together they playfully "Hit the Road to Dreamland." Then, as Littleton, Chris and lane design the seductive decor, there's a faint aroma of cognac in the air when Heather sings "You Go to My Head."

Rounding out the first half of the session is a wry look at attracted opposites, "When Texas Boy Meets California Girl, " with Rickey Woodard adding some cogent observations on his tenor. Of the composer, Heather says: "Page Jackson is a friend, fellow musician and teacher at Fairfax [high school] where I have worked for five years. I think his tune... is a very good song with very clever lyrics." But how transient, she's soon to remind us, is the life of all that's fast and happy. She renders "I Thought About You" in an achingly slow, Shirley Horn-like ballad tempo. When she elongates the syllables, "...and when I pulled--down--the--shade, I real--ly got blue, " you give into the despair, and you think of some of those other solitary figures upon a stage who knew how to make art blur into life.

"My greatest influences as a singer, " she confesses, "were Ella, Billie, Sarah and Carmen."

In "When Someone Throws Your Love Away, " Heather picks herself up off the floor and tosses off some defiant, nifty pentatonic phrases, sparring with saxophonist Woodard. All recoveries leave their scars, but there's a redemptive beauty to the bittersweet sentiments in the Hoagy Carmichael/Jane Brown Thompson classic, "I Get Along Without You Very Well." Here, Heather relaxes and stretches out, Unencumbered by a strict tempo, and is supported superbly by the gorgeous orchestral pianism of Mr. Collett. Ms. Evans leaves us wrung-out emotionally, but not before reassuring us with her familiar smile and swagger. Now, she struts confidently through a "Killer-Joe" setting of "That Old Devil Moon, " and then she closes with Duke Ellington's coquettish and charmin\ "Just Squeeze Me." It's evident that Heather Evans paid her dues professionally, as well as emotionally-- singing in New York clubs and in the top nightspots in Los Angeles, including Catalina's Bar & Grill, Masquer's Cabaret Theatre, the Money Tree, Chadney's, the Gardenia, Lunaria, and others. She has worked with some Great musicians, too, including Mal Waldron, Billy Taylor and Barry Harris (in New York), and Gildo Mahones, Cecilia Coleman, and Dwight Dickerson (in LosAngeles). As the applause dies down, Heather says: "I want to thank Bob Tucker, Recording Engineer, for his amazing experience in getting just the right mix. He did a great job. And 1 also want to thank my vocal coach of many years, Dini Clarke."

From all of us who play with you and know you: Thank You, Heather.

- Richard Simon, May 10, 2004