DISCOVERIES:Holly Yarbrough's "Mister Rogers Swings!"

Recently I had the pleasure of seeing the off-Broadway show "Everyday Rapture". The show features star Sherie Rene Scott covering an eclectic selection of songs that were important to her as she was growing up. I was dumbstruck by some of the pieces she chose to sing because they were such touchstones of my own childhood and adolescence, including Harry Nilsson's "Life Line" (from the animated movie "The Point") and Tom Waits' "Rainbow Sleeves", one of my favorite heart-breakers.

Most astonishingly, Sherie performed a mini-set of songs from "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" and identified Fred Rogers as a seminal figure in her life, teaching her self-love and self-confidence (traits that were frowned upon within the spartan Mennonite community of her youth.) Upon returning home from the show, I jumped online to see if I could find any recordings of Fred Rogers' music, and that's how I stumbled across last year's release of MISTER ROGERS SWINGS!


Vocalist Holly Yarbrough is the star of this appealing piece of brilliance, featuring jazz arrangements of 16 of Roger's television tunes. Yarbrough is terrific, delivering cheerful (never saccharine) interpretations of the Rogers' oeuvre with the assistance of a small combo (they are equally wonderful). I suspect you won't believe me when I say that they pull off these performances without a trace of kitsch, but they manage it somehow. You'd expect "a kid's album" but it's really not that at all; it's sophisticated, heartfelt jazz. It's also proof of Rogers's own talents as a composer in his own right (he received his BA in music composition).

There's not a bad track on the album. In fact, the best songs are those where things could most easily have veered into irony, with a wink and a nod. Instead, Yarbrough wrings real passion out of "Then Your Heart Is Full of Love" and brings a clever simmer to "I Like To Be Told". Appealing voice, ingenious arrangements, brilliant concept (someone should win a Grammy just for having the idea); I can't recommend it enough.

HOLLY YARBROUGH on MySpace