Towards the end of my enthusiastic review of Judy Whitmore’s classic styled, Hollywood glamour filled 2022 album Isn't It Romantic?, I mentioned the fact that she had been a licensed commercial pilot for years and was even writing a bestselling novel about her passion titled Come Fly With Me. I then added: “Sounds like a song that could go on her next album!”
A year and a half later, the versatile and dreamy powerhouse of a singer has done one better – naming her entire second album after the Sinatra-associated song! There’s a magical thematic method to her aviation-driven madness on the collection. Namely, working with the amiable, inspiring and uplifting arrangements of six-time Grammy nominee Chris Walden, she fashions an ode to her lifelong passion for traveling, drawing on well-known standards and a few slightly obscure tunes to reflect on places she’s been and spots she’s dreamed about going.
Stating her mission perfectly, Whitmore begins her journey in the splendid swing of things with “It’s Nice To Go Traveling,” before taking to the skies via the gently string caressed title track and hitting some fave spots in Europe via charming spins on “On an Evening in Roma” and “A Nightengale Sang in Berkeley Square” – and a few tracks later, a sweet, harmonica-laced “April in Paris.”
Her infectious travelogue also covers her similar affection for traveling by train (a lightly swinging “I Thought About You”) and staying at out of the way places (“There’s A Small Hotel”). Turning her attention Stateside, she offers the sweet caress of “Moonlight in Vermont,” “Autumn In New York” and “Georgia On My Mind,” the latter a bluesy slow burn sung beautifully with Adam Aejae Jackson.” Whitmore’s latest (literal) flight of fancy wraps with a spirited stroll through “Beyond the Sea” and a hushed, intimate reflection of finding love after a lengthy search “Around the World.”
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