CD

Nancy LaMott, Ask Me Again (Midder Music, two CDs). Twenty previously unreleased cuts–airchecks, live performances, demo recordings–by the best cabaret singer of her generation. The songs include “Call Me Irresponsible,” “Cheek to Cheek,” “Easy to Love,” “The Shadow of Your Smile,” and a medley of Stephen Sondheim’s “No One Is Alone” and “Not While I’m Around.” Nancy and I were good friends, so I can’t be objective about this one, but I’ll be very surprised if you don’t find Ask Me Again as beautiful and moving as the studio recordings that brought her brief but well-deserved fame. Also available is I’ll Be Here With You, a companion DVD of live performances and interviews taped between 1978 and Nancy’s untimely death in 1995 (TT).