Maye Cavallaro has a haunting voice, is expert at caressing ballads, and displays a wistful and subtle style. On this set she is teamed with the sympathetic guitar of Mimi Fox for a program of duets with occasional appearances by Paul McCandless (mostly on soprano sax) and percussionist Ian Dogole. The jazz standards (including four by Duke Ellington) work best, although there are also numbers from Elvis Costello and Paul Simon. The interplay between Cavallaro and Fox is stimulating, and their arrangements cast new light on some of the standards. This set grows in interest with each listen.
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...evenly matched are mellow chanteuse Maye Cavallaro and dexterous guitarist Mimi fox on their consistently superb Hearts (Redhead). Cavallaro's easy elegant and burnished vocal beauty, luxurious as purple velvet, suggest a more robust Diana Krall. Fox, alternating among three acoustic guitars, two electrics and one nylon-sting, echoes the magnificence of Les Paul. Like Paul, she knows how to blend seamlessly with a singer. She is the cool yin to Cavallaro's warm yang-two dynamic halves of a greater whole. Listening to their downy "Daydream," percolated "I'm Beginning to See the Light," boldly expansive rendering of Paul Simon's "Under African Skies" and sensual, Latin-accented interpretation of Jesse Neal Barrish's tender title track is to experience teamwork at its most magical.
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