BETTY BRYANT, Nothin' Better To Do

 Effervescent, ever-witty and stylish L.A. jazz blues and soul icon Betty Bryant is perhaps the only singer alive of which we can say, at age 96, it feels like she’s just getting warmed up.

Quickly following up her critically acclaimed 2024 album Lotta Livin’, she joins forces with longtime collaborator and saxophonist/producer Robert Kyle for Nothin’ Better To Do, a lively, soulfully lived in, stylistically eclectic and beautifully loving set of engaging originals and offbeat Songbook era gems featuring some of SoCal’s top musicians, including bassist Hussain Jiffry, trumpeter Tony Guerrero and guitarist Kleber George.

Though she claims to be slowing down, Bryant intimate vocal warmth, charm and impeccable phrasing hit the heart as transcendently as ever as she traverses a wide musical terrain full of bossa nova (“I Haven’t Got Anything Better To Do”), funky New Orleans stomp (the rap-sung “Mama Sue”), breezy swing (“You Are Not My First Love”) and Afro-Cuban magic (“Time Was”).

Kyle complements the vocal tunes with a cool, sassy blues shuffle (“Awrite Then”), which would make a perfect opening number for a live show or offer Bryant a nice break in the middle of a set.