JAZZ REVIEW : Siegel-Hersch Duo: Style and Substance at Jazz Bakery

Janis Siegel claims that she isn’t a jazz singer. “I like,” she says, “to sing too many other kinds of music.”

It’s a good thing that the veteran star of the Manhattan Transfer vocal group spends more time singing than evaluating. Good as she may be with “other kinds of music,” jazz singing is what she does best, and she’s getting better at it all the time.

Friday, in the first set of a two-nighter at the Jazz Bakery, Siegel and pianist Fred Hersch, working with the intimate intuitiveness of creative twins, brought style and substance to every piece of music they touched.

The opening number was typical--a lush but brilliantly focused Siegel rendering of “For All We Know,” with a Hersch chorus that virtually reconstructed the song’s harmonies.

Next came a trio of tunes, “I’m So Lucky to Be Me,” “Nobody Else but Me” and “I’m Just a Lucky So and So,” described, appropriately, by Siegel as “our self-esteem medley” (a later grouping was identified as “our deja vu medley”). Each piece was a gem. Siegel sings remarkably in tune (more rare these days than one might think), but she does so without sacrificing the warmth of her tone or the subtle undercurrents of her interpretations.

And Hersch’s playing ranged from exquisitely well-placed fills behind Siegel’s vocals to driving, be-bop-tinged soloing on the up-tempos.

They were joined by Tony Dumas on bass and Ralph Penland on drums for a few items from their new album, “Slow Hot Wind” (Varese Sarabande). Happily, the added musical armament enhanced rather than distracted from the Siegel/Hersch linkage. Dumas was discreet with his counter lines, and Penland proved that a sensitive drummer can function effectively in the sometimes clattery acoustics of the Bakery.

Ironically, Siegel’s least interesting readings came when she pushed her voice a bit too hard during a brief segment featuring songs by Sting and Todd Rundgren. But she made up for the misstep with a spirited, hard-swinging romp through a whimsical nursery rhyme that also spotlighted Hersch’s jubilant, over-the-edge sendup of stride piano.