Eastman shines on her third CD featuring Tony Williams in a rare appearance with a vocalist.

JAZZTIMES
The best thing about Madeline Eastman is that she sings like a human being. Her phrasing is always unforced, she applies her vibrato voice sparingly and even her scatting has something conversational about it. It makes her the ideal singer for people who don't like singing -- and if you do, so much the better.
On her third date, she alternates Latin-tinged material with more conventional settings. Her Portuguese is perfectly decent and the arrangement of Monk's "Evidence," complete with surreal tea-dance accents from the Turtle Islands String Quartet isn't something I'd want to miss. But her tender, matter-of-fact readings of "Say It Isn't So" or "It Never Entered My Mind" are the real treats, enhanced by the presence of Kenny Barron on piano and Tony Williams on drums. And when was the last time you heard somebody handle Blossom Dearie's whimsy "I Like You, You're Nice" even better than Blossom Dearie?

CD REVIEW
"Hipsters, flipsters, and finger-poppin' daddies, knock me your lobes" -- the grabby preamble of Lord Buckley's rendering of Mark Anthony's funeral oration for Julius Caesar serves as the entire apologia for Madeline Eastman's third album on her home-grown label. Spiritual connections abound between the '60s comedian and the '90s singer: both San Francisco cutting-edge artists are wordsmiths, bop fans, repertoire fanatics, full of piss and vinegar, malcontents with well-enough-alones and tried-and-truisms.
Eastman's songs are far from broke, but she fixes them anyway with a savvy, thrilling alto and sharp rethinking. She lays depth charges from her opening reading of "The Thrill Is Gone," strips innocence from Blossom Dearie's invitational cup of coffee ("I like You, You're Nice,"), and sports her influences (Carmen McRae on "Say It Isn't So," Mark Murphy on "The Boy Next Door").
Eastman doesn't tinker aimlessly, she reconstructs with purpose. Her apt readings, scat sensibilities, and turn-on-a-dime phrasing mark her directions, yet she accomplishes her work painlessly, under a brisk veneer of wit and playfulness, and hints that there's something more: commitment: challenge? untamability?
As on her other CDs, Eastman features bop icons, taut vs. easy arrangements, hiply Latinized settings. Her trio is pianist Kenny Barron (who, through hard work and matches with the greats, has himself achieved greatness), superb Bay Area bassist Peter Barshay, and august drummer Tony Williams. The surgingly surgical Turtle Island String Quartet backs Eastman's curious lyrics to "Evidence" and wordless "Nefertiti," and a Latin quintet spices several tracks, notably the oddball, funny "Telephone Song."

JAZZIZ
Madeline Eastman. Great press. Rave reviews. Mountains of praise from musical colleagues and adoring admirers. A breathlessly bright and captivating vocal delivery, embodied in elegantly angular good looks. Madeline Eastman's star is on the rise. "Things couldn't be any better for me right now in terms of my acceptance nationally with critics, audiences, and radio stations," enthuses Eastman. "I've been singing for 18 years, and in the last three years I've actually been making a living at it, which I never conceived could be possible."
Part of Eastman's growing success in the overpopulated realm of jazz singers comes from her relentless commitment to her art and a long-standing affection for the standards which comprise the heart of her recordings. The rest is marketing. For Eastman, that meant forming her own record company, Mad-Kat Records, in 1990 along with fellow San Francisco singer Kitty Margolis. "I didn't want to sit around and wait for somebody to think I was great or not," recalls Eastman without a trace of arrogance. "The first record I made [Point of Departure in 1990, with Tom Harrell] was shopped around, and it was the most depressing period of my life. So the idea behind forming Mad-Kat was to move forward regardless of the powers that be. Go ahead and do it." Eastman followed the rousing success of Departure with 1992's Mad About Madeline, bringing in saxophonist Phil Woods and pianist Cedar Walton to enhance her musical stature and cultured vocal phrasings. Both recordings scored high in jazz radio airplay from coast to coast. And a new album, Art Attack (set for a July release), marks yet another turning point in Eastman's career: she's joined on the disc by drummer Tony Williams in his first-ever collaboration with a singer. The new recording also features the masterful Kenny Barron on piano and the Turtle Island String Quartet on an inspired version of Wayne Shorter's "Nefertiti." "It's kind of odd -- a little art piece," says Eastman of her collaboration with the avant garde West Coast string quartet. "I hope it works," she adds with a nervous laugh. Not to worry.
Eastman's adventurous outings into mainstream jazz bring along a well-refined sense of swing and sophistication. Her easy, natural approach to lyrics belies an exquisite appreciation of melodic complexity and impeccable presentation. From soft, romantic balladry to improvised vocalizing around boppish favorites, Eastman consistently demonstrates a fresh and invigorating strength and a mature emotional impact. "The longer you're a musician, the more you aspire to," says Eastman. "So you have to be in it for the long haul. "Which is cool," she adds, with an air of decided optimism, "because at least there is a long haul."