Gita?s new album is out this weekend. It?s called ?Angel Eyes? and features a fetching photograph of the songstress on the front cover.

The selection of songs will please mature jazz lovers. ?What Is This Thing Called Love?, ?Someone To Watch Over Me?, ?Sophisticated Lady? and ?I Get A Kick Out Of You? ? are some of the titles given the treatment.

Gita has backing her the excellent David Budway on piano. His contributions both accompanying and soloing, are of the highest class ? musically, rhythmically and harmonically engaging.

He and Gita are both credited with the arranging. The immaculate Whency Woolridge is the sensitive swinging bassist. Drummer Tony Cox and percussionist Keith Caisey support with subtlety and taste. Trumpeter Sam Hawkins, dubbed ?Wild Thing?, also adds pungent, bluesy comments.

The band is tight and works well together.

Case in point is ?I Get A Kick Out Of You?, which switches from a Salsa feel to a swinging four and back again with polished ease. Caisey?s Congas close out this track.

Check out the muted trumpet obligatos on ?My One And Only Love?, for example. Or the solo on ?The Shadow of Your Smile?. And Tony Cox on ?Spain? is vintage!

It?s been five years since Gita?s last album. This one is dedicated to the late Andre Morrison and Michael Fox ? two pianists with whom Gita worked who are no longer with us.

The voice is still very much there, at bottom it is a very pleasant sounding instrument. But I have to say that two aspects make me withhold an unrestrained endorsement.

One is style. My feeling is that Gita is still in evolution towards a genuine style of her own. Yes, you hear echoes of her idols ? no bad thing in itself.

But they are not woven into Gita?s own personal style ? not yet at any rate. The other thing is her tendency not to place notes exactly on pitch, that occurs often enough to draw attention.

Some of the tunes are minefields for singers ? ?Sophisticated Lady?, for example, with its challenging chromaticism. And ?Desafinado?, which incidentally means ?out of tune?.

These are not easy tunes to sing. She does very well, mostly.

Some of the tempi strike me as less than apt ? ?My Romance?, for example.

Okay. Having said that, the album bears repeated listening.

Gita is nothing if not adventurous.

Check out her take on ?Spain?.

The selections are all standards, the musical values of the band are extremely high.

Gita?s arranging partnership is very successful, and offers fresh takes on these well known numbers.

I hope it doesn?t take another five years to hear a new Gita album.

She has a fine voice and some musical ideas of her own. None of this is to say that the album is fatally flawed.

It is full of high musical value. And Gita, as vocalist and arranger deserves credit for that, too.