JAZZ REVIEW : McCORKLE’S ECLECTICISM AT VINE ST.

Susannah McCorkle is infatuated with words.

You don’t have to know that she speaks four languages to realize this (though it helps). As she wove her way through a somewhat excessively eclectic program Thursday at the Vine St. Bar & Grill, it became clear that she wants to tackle every lyrical obstacle.

A tall, attractive blonde who immediately puts you in a New York state of mind, McCorkle has a weakness for schmaltzy songs about show business. Her opener was “That’s Entertainment,” and she sang “There’s No Business Like Show Business” as a dreamy waltz--a brilliant conception, though perhaps hardly as good an idea as simply not singing it at all.

She also displayed a propensity for humor, in a vocalese version of an Illinois Jacquet solo on “All of Me” and in a comic series of pseudo- macho- image lines on “Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche.” She does not, however, neglect the need for a gentle, soulful song once in a while, as in Rupert Holmes’ touching “People That You Never Get to Love” or the old Lil Armstrong ballad “Just for a Thrill.”

On these slower pieces, and in such relaxed moments as her bilingual version of the Brazilian “Triste,” one has a chance to appreciate the melodic aspects of her talent: The purity of sound, the easy phrasing, the beautifully held high-note endings.

She makes smart use of her trio, often opening with just the bassist Steve Bailey (“If They Could See Me Now”) or the drummer, Peter Donald, as in “Let’s Do It.” The latter must belong in the Guinness Book of Records as the song with the most extra sets of words, and it seems most likely that McCorkle knows them all. The pianist Tom Garvin leads the group efficiently.

McCorkle has such an ingratiating and gracious personality that she can even be forgiven for singing “The Trolley Song.” Her all too hurried visit ends tonight.