|  | "Blue Nights" - All Music Guide Review
| Judy Niemack has released so many outstanding CDs that it seems unfathomable that this 2007 release for Blujazz is her first U.S. recording since Heart's Desire and only her third U.S. album overall. But she makes up for lost time with a typically adventurous outing, backed by guitarist Jeanfrançois Prins (her husband), pianist Jim McNeely, bassist Dennis Irwin, and drummer Victor Lewis, with guest appearances by saxophonist Gary Bartz and trumpeter/flügelhornist Don Sickler on selected tracks. Niemack's sassy take of Duke Ellington's "I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues" and her scatting in unison with Prins' guitar in a romp through "Bluesette" open the disc with a bang, but she cools things down with her intricate interpretation of Bill Evans' "Interplay," for which she supplied delightful lyrics. "A Crazy Song to Sing" has more of a vocalese quality, describing the appeal of performing Thelonious Monk's "Mysterioso," punctuated by Bartz's smoldering alto sax solo. "In a Sentimental Mood" is set up by an intriguing blend of guitar, flügelhorn, and alto sax, with Niemack delivering a captivating performance. Judy Niemack has been one of the most underrated jazz vocalists of her generation, and this brilliant effort should awaken critics who have unjustly overlooked her consistently excellent work."
| | Ken Dryden, All Music Guide |
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"Her creative odyssey provides a fascinating illustration of the high road to mastery that transcends the limitations of genre...a vocalist of theatrical depth and consumate syllabic invention. Ever since her debut with (Warne) Marsh at the Village Vanguard, audiences have marvelled at the grace with which Niemack scats."
-- K. Leander Williams, Downbeat
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"To hear Judy Niemack's immaculate delivery of poetic romance and lilting spirit from the classic American songbook is to believe she was weaned on it...She didn't merely dabble in folk, opera, jazz, avant-garde and the great American standards; she studied and explored them... Few singers have a better grasp of melody, harmony and phrasing, or such a rich instrument with which to express them."
-- Stuart Troup, New York Newsday
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"Vocalist Judy Niemack never veers from her path as she leads you through an ethereal labyrinth, exploring dark harmonies, classically-tinged jazz melodies and shifting rhythms...Her dynamically delivered three -octave vocals soar above superb accompaniment...""Vocalist Judy Niemack never veers from her path as she leads you through an ethereal labyrinth, exploring dark harmonies, classically-tinged jazz melodies and shifting rhythms...Her dynamically delivered three-octave vocals soar above superb accompaniment... "
-- Nancy Ann Lee, Jazz Times
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"She puts over a tune with passion and singular phrasing. She slaloms with streamlined precision through tricky be-bop lines and changes. She twists, turns, scats, leaps and bounds with Olympian grace...displaying admirable control, balance and understatement...Classy."
-- Gene Kalbacher, Hot House
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"Judy Niemack digs deeply into the innards of the compositional body eclectic and makes no detectable missteps. She crosses her Rubicon with the grace and confidence of those who know just where the shallows are and, therefore, appear to walk on water. Her voice remains a vehicle of startling clarity with all the range and rubato she might need for either a scat or improvisatory horn mode, as well as the filligreed touch of texture with which she breathes into life an intelligent lyric."
-- Alan Bargebuhr, Cadence Magazine
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"To my mind, Judy Niemack is one of the best, and purest jazz singers ever. Besides a voice with the clarity of a mountain stream, accuracy of pitch and time that is a wonder to hear, perfect diction and sensitivity to lyrics, she has a disciplined improvisational gift that makes her scat-sung lines music instead of the show-biz exhibitionism scat-singing has all too often been with others."
-- Safford Chamberlain, L.A. Jazz Scene
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"You need have no reservations about Judy Niemack, a young veteran of the New York club scene who epitomizes the term "jazz singer". Niemack's irrepresible swing, savvy scatting and dead-on intonation allow her to improvise solos that seem more horn than voice....her way with a lyric will warm the hearts of both romantics and musical adventurers as she tames tough jazz lines written for saxes, not singers."
-- Neil Tesser, Playboy Jazz
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"Judy has an inner sweetness to her voice....and a jazz edge. The combination is effective. She's musically sophisticated. She befriends the pulse and interacts with jazz musicians well. She draws from feelings and experiences, using melodies by jazz composers- some of them quite challenging- as her basis for creativity..."
-- Burt Korall, International Musician
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