Judy Chamberlain’s own Road Trip started in the 1950’s in New York City, where she was regularly in attendance at an early age at the Broadway shows, clubs and society hangouts of the day, probably as a “cover” for her party-loving aunts. “It was a magical time,” she says.

These days, as one of the busiest and most popular jazz singers and event producers in Southern California, Chamberlain is still observing life and making magic, most recently with this, her long-overdue and beautifully-crafted album of some of the songs she loves to sing. Working live in the studio, she and pianist Bill Cunliffe, guitarist Ron Eschete, bassist Ben May and drummer Dave Tull have captured the essence of at least five decades of sophisticated jazz. Theirs is a style that hints slyly at the past; you’ll recognize the elegant “society bounce” on George Gershwin’s “Soon,” the understated bop of Bobby Troup’s “Route 66” and the mid-Twentieth Century romantic innocence of Henry Mancini’s “Two For The Road.” Cunliffe’s lush piano playing on “With A Song In My Heart” is an art one seldom hears in tandem with a voice as pure and eloquent as Judy’s.

Since settling in Southern California in 1980, Chamberlain, a prolifically published lifestyle and food writer, has been featured in numerous radio and TV segments including her own production, the award-winning “Savoire Fare” restaurant series on the Orange County News Channel. Musically, in addition to being a singer, bandleader and entertainer, she is an important force behind the scenes in putting swinging jazz into a variety of venues. Her true love is the deep interior of the great American songbook and she is heard in delicious form throughout Road Trip, a collection of 13 favorites from her more than four thousand tune repertoire.

With the writer’s gift for telling a story, Chamberlain takes the listener on a timeless, lovely journey that is meant to be savored with dinner and a good bottle of wine, or enjoyed on a leisurely drive up the coast, wherever that coast may be.

– Scott Yanow, author of “Swing, Bebop,
Afro-Cuban Jazz, Trumpet Kings and Classic Jazz”