Less than five years ago Rene Marie was a frustrated bank teller, daydreaming of being a professional singer. Since then her first two MaxJazz albums - HOW CAN I KEEP FROM SINGING (2000) and VERTIGO (2002) - have topped the US jazz charts, the latter also being voted 9th best CD of 2002 by the UK's Jazz Review magazine. Rene has also won various awards in the US and France. Like those first two albums, this release is eclectic, full of emotional stories and vocal twists and turns. Unlike the others, however, this one captures the raw intensity and energy of Rene's dramatic live performance, recorded in November/December 2002 at the Jazz Standard club in New York City with an intimate trio, John Toomey (piano), Elias Bailey (upright bass), T. Howard Curtis III (drums). Her repertoire of 10 lengthy performances ranges from standards such as "A Foggy Day" and "Where Or When", her own compositions "Shelter In Your Arms" and "Paris On Ponce", to an unlikely and advertures pairing of Ravel's "Bolero" with Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne". A formidable artist forging her own path in jazz.