Audra McDonald is relatively new to the Broadway stage, but has already established herself as a major talent, winning two Tony awards and being put in the ranks with singers such as Judy Garland and Maria Callas. On her powerful 1999 debut recording, she makes a bold move by recording not Broadway standards, but brand new music by contemporary composers who are writing just for her. With the range, technique, and quality of an opera singer, and the warmth, agility, and rhythm of a jazz/blues master, she breathes life into the 14 songs on this album, including the title track on which Dawn Upshaw guests. Especially interesting are several Langston Hughes poems (including Dream Variations and Song For a Dark Girl), set artfully to music. Audra McDonald is a not just a vocalist, she is a musician -- and she is not to missed.

Mcdonald,Audra