Jeanie Bryson: Live at Warsaw Jazz Festival

It's not a great sign when a singer's parentage is more intriguing than her music, but that's the case with Jeanie Bryson—the illegitimate daughter of the late trumpeter and bebop pioneer Dizzy Gillespie and songwriter Connie Bryson. At least judging from this modest 1991 nine-song performance, she didn't inherit Diz's bravura chops or sense of musical adventure. Opening for trumpeter Freddie Hubbard at the Warsaw Jazz Festival, the singer is competent but uninspiring (the same can be said for her band, led by pianist Ronnie Mathews), cruising through a program that's heavy on standards such as "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To," "I've Got a Crush on You," "Body and Soul," and "Our Love is Here to Stay." A couple of sambas (including one by Bryson's mother) help pick things up, as does "TV is the Thing This Year," a Dinah Washington chestnut filled with "he turned my dial up" double entendres. But Bryson's failure to really cut loose makes this a tepid affair at best. Featuring a tinny audio track (Dolby Digital 5.1 and stereo options notwithstanding) and analog video that's far from crisp—not to mention an extraneous 24-minute performance by a Latin jazz band (fronted by a singer named Kenia) that comes totally out of left field—this is not a necessary purchase. (S. Graham)