Love Is Here to Stay

LOVE IS HERE TO STAY's producer, Joel Moss, calls the treat that is this intimate CD, " a harmony that only nature could have written." Indeed, as singer Sandy Stewart and her A-list pianist son, Bill Charlap, collaborate for a gorgeously languorous duet set. The entire family affair is a primer on discreet music making, with Stewart's lush alto couched in Charlap's burnished harmonies. Any obvious gestures or forte fireworks are avoided in favor of delivering a knowing, well-read lyric with smoldering emotions. The two are perfectly simpatico on classics like the title tune and "Always," while "It Might as Well be Spring" is exemplary, the gentle pauses carrying as much weight as any vocal or instrumental phrase. With a couple of tunes by husband and dad Moose Charlap thrown in for good measure, Stewart and her son have pulled off a triumph of quiet elegance.