I Was Born In Love With You

By David E. Thigpen

The roof-raising American classical singer and the veteran French composer and pianist rendezvous for a session of bittersweet jazz songs. Legrand selected the tunes (all his own, including Afterthoughts and The Summer Knows), and his piano persuasively conjures the smoky languor of a Left Bank nightclub. But the star of this show is Norman's brilliant voice, which cuts through the nocturnal mood like a shaft of light. Though you can't help wondering what the diva could do if she shrugged off the opera-house manners and let herself go a little more, there's no denying an instrument of such grandeur.

--By David E. Thigpen