"What Love Is" by Erin Boheme

a Review by Amy Lotsberg Producer of Collected Sounds

If I wasn't already blown away by her voice and songwriting, I certainly was when I read that she's only 18 years old. She sounded to me like an old pro and here she's a kid from Wisconsin. Crazy. Oh did I mention she's gorgeous? She is.

I've always said that I'm not well-versed in jazz and I'm still no jazz scholar. But I've certainly heard and reviewed more jazz-tinged stuff than I had a few years ago.

After reviewing what I considered a jazz record previously I was given the 'what-for' by a reader who wondered how I could dare call said singer 'jazz' when she clearly was not. I don't want to make that mistake again so I'll just say, this sounds like jazz to me. And I like it.

Boheme's voice is lovely, it's soothing and clear but also has that sultry smoky sexy sound to it. I could listen to her sing all day. And with my "repeat" button I have that option.

While Boheme co-wrote many of the songs here she also does some great covers. These range from Peggy Lee to Tracy Chapman. But my favorite on here is "One Night with Frank"; a sort of fantasy story, if you will about what it would be like to hang with The Chairman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Sinatra ) for a night. It's quite clever, as she's interjected his song titles in with the lyrics. It's a sweet song.

I really like this record and it's one that feels pretty timeless for me so I'm sure I'll be listening to it for awhile. Dare I say, a standard. If you're at all interested in beautiful vocals, melodic songs, lovely piano and other great instrumentation you should really give "What Love Is" a whirl.

Posted on April 25, 2006