Vintage Grillo (HockeyJazz)
Through dint of effort Jerry Grillo emerged from nowhere 10 years ago to become one of Milwaukee's better known jazz singers. The effort involved a prolific number of sessions in the recording, studio, which resulted in a series of self-released CDs.

Vintage Grillo is the singer's "best-of" album. Culled from tracks from six compact discs on his own label, it features accompaniment from some of the city's most polished jazz musicians (plus contributions from New York and Chicago players). Pianist Barry Velleman is especially prominent, but the Nick Contorno Orchestra can also be heard. The settings range from small combos to the kind of swinging big band that once accompanied Sinatra. Grillo's loungy voice sounds comfortable either way. The singer has always been fortunate in his collaborators. On "All or Nothing at All," the Velleman Trio caresses the melody and rhythm, providing an empathetic commentary that never loses sight of the song's intrinsic value. "Georgia" gets a restrained organ piano-bass soul jazz treatment.

Grillo's career has shifted between two impulses: to expand the repertoire of vocal jazz (his sessions with guitarist Jack Grassel are noticeably absent from Vintage Grillo) and to simply bask in the richness of jazz from a time when it was America's popular music. His new CD focuses entirely on the latter. A one-time MPS teacher, Grillo continues his educational vocation by exposing a new generation to the treasury of American song writing from the 1930s, '40s and '50s.