Thais Clark is often stereotyped as a raucous vocalist—and yeah, she can be flamboyant and a real hoot on rowdy numbers. Looking beyond that image, however, one discovers that with the right tune and the right band, her vocal subtleties abound. She takes advantage of both on this disc, recorded at George Buck’s studio. It’s located right above his wife Nina’s Palm Court where Clark has performed on Friday nights since 1991. From the quiet start of the title cut, “That Old Feeling,” the tone is set for an album that highlights Clark’s mellower side. Not that the vocalist abandons the hot numbers for which she’s known, tunes like the humorous “Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues,” but she also lays back on a selection of jazz standards, spirituals and show tunes. “Black and Blue” isn’t an easily accomplished undertaking by any vocalist, yet Clark’s offers it with great patience and honesty. Tom Fisher’s clarinet beautifully expressed interludes soar and sorrow. The band members are all aces who are capable in any style. They included drum master Ernie Elly, clarinetist/saxophonist Fisher, trumpeter Duke Heitger, trombonist Lucien Barbarian, pianist Rickie Monie, guitarist Steve Blailock and bassist Mark Brooks. Each gets an opportunity to stand in the spotlight with the ensemble getting a tune of its own on the instrumental “Dipper Mouth Blues.” Clark closes the program even quieter than she began. With an almost operatic flare and accompanied simply by the piano, she instills great passion to “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen.” Some might be surprised the vocalist on this cut is the same Clark who is so often seen prancing the stage at the Palm Court, belting out tunes with her seriously powerful voice and clowning with the audience and guys in the band.