Today!

AMG Review of Today!

Alex Henderson
All Music Guide

Before Eden Atwood signed with Concord Jazz, she recorded this little-known CD for the Chicago-based Southport label. Essentially, Today! is the same album as the singer's first Concord release, No One Ever Tells You, but with three more tracks: "Stardust," "You Are Not Alone" and Southport leader Bradley Parker-Sparrow's swinging title song. For whatever reason, these three tracks were omitted from No One (while eleven others were kept), but they're worth hearing if you can find Today!. Although Atwood was only 22 when this material was recorded, she had already turned into a warm and appealing interpreter of lyrics and had developed a small following playing around Chicago. Material ranging from "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" and "Old Devil Moon" to Luiz Bonfa's seductive "The Gentle Rain" demonstrates that while Atwood swings, she definitely isn't a hard bopper, but rather, is best described as "a jazz singer with cabaret and torch-song leanings." It's important to stress, however, that like Susannah McCorkle, Atwood generally avoids the type of campiness that some may associate with modern cabaret. Because Today! went out of print after Atwood signed with Concord, finding a copy could prove difficult. But if you should come across one, it would be a better investment than No One Ever Tells You because of the three additional tracks.