Jazz Review : Linda Peterson Brings Along Cousin for Jazz Bakery Show

When Linda Peterson talks about getting together for a family jam session, she isn’t kidding. The Minneapolis-based jazz singer, who made a rare appearance at the Jazz Bakery on Thursday night, can assemble a world-class band by just making a few phone calls to family members.

This time around, she worked a duo with cousin Tommy Peterson, a veteran of the “Tonight” orchestra, on tenor saxophone. But she might easily have included brothers Ricky, who plays keyboards with David Sanborn; Billy, the bassist with the Steve Miller Band, or Paul, a former all-purpose singer-instrumentalist with Prince’s ensemble.

The musical lineage doesn’t miss a beat with Linda Peterson. A Carole King-styled pop vocalist when she first recorded for RCA in the early ‘70s, she has matured into a splendid jazz performer. Her voice has an appealingly burry, late-night edge, and her phrasing is rich with blues-tinged melodic alterations. Equally important, she sings with great respect for both music and lyrics. In the Mancini/Bricusse classic “Two for the Road,” for example, her reading was fully cognizant of the connections between the song’s unusual harmonies and its poignant story. “Love for Sale,” in contrast, brought appropriately fierce rhythms to Cole Porter’s sardonic lines.

Like Carmen McRae, Peterson is a good enough pianist to supply substantial, and fittingly intimate, self-accompaniment. Her chording was lush and sensual for ballads such as “Don’t Explain” and crisply rhythmic in the boogie backing for “You Made Your Move Too Soon.” If there was a problem, it was a tendency for Peterson to fill too many of the open spaces, to not allow her voice to always take the front and center position it deserved.

Tommy Peterson’s saxophone provided superb improvisational counterpoint. Not especially visible when he was one of the numerous faces in Doc Severinsen’s talented crew of players, his solo interactions with his cousin’s vocals brought a highly personal slant to the cool tones of the Lester Young/Stan Getz lineage.