Maria Muldaur – Naughty, Bawdy & Blue

This isnt so much a tribute album as a seance, with Muldaur…how to put this?… rubbing the magic ball and finding her future in the past. Shes been doing this, of course, ever since her debut with the Even Dozen Jug Band, whose odd distinction was to be a nostalgia act that was also ahead of its time. On Naughty, Bawdy & Blue, Muldaur wraps herself in red hot mama finery, which looks as good on her as on Mae West curled onto a velvet divan. The repertoire dates back to vaudeville, most of it obscure, some of it classic, all played to perfection by Jim Dapognys scrupulously authentic band. The arrangements intersperse intimate, free-tempo, piano-and-voice episodes with saucy, strutting brass on the big choruses. Muldaur eats it all up and sings it back, her voice a husky bravado, her phrasing dripping with blues and playful sensuality. Compare her performance with that of Bonnie Raitt, her duo partner on Separation Blues: Raitt is great, but Muldaur has found her place deep in the beckoning bosom of this music.