Okay, okay, it's not a paean to cannibalism, but this third album by Janet and her band takes the listener on an exploration that is just as exotic as the deepest jungles of New Guinea! Klein grew up in San Bernadino, her father Stephen Klein was an avant-garde animator with a taste for Frank Zappa music, and grandparents who regaled her with tales of 1930's New York, where her grandfather was a stage magician. All this input left her with a lifelong fascination with pre-WW2 pop culture. She has turned that fascination into a career. An interest in graphic design led her to collect early sheet music, and then to the original recordings of the songs and finally to her own interpretations of these early tunes.

Janet Klein learned to play the ukulele to accompany her own poetry readings, and then began to sing. The ukulele still appears but The Parlor Boys provide some hot jazz backings to the songs. The Parlor Boys feature Ian Whitcomb ("You Turn Me On") on accordion and ukulele; two members of R.Crumb's Cheap Suit Serenaders, Robert Armstrong and Tom Marion on various guitars; and Brad Kay on piano and cornet and a host of other instruments.

"I'm on a mission for charm," Klein claims, and she is utterly charming in her approach to both the music and the presentation. Her Web site is filled with images from the past. Even the new pictures are faithful reconstructions of 30s style fashion. The photos are hand tinted, the musicians carefully posed, clothed in retro costumes looking every bit the fine gentlemen, standing behind this lovely lady.

The album design continues the 30s theme and provides the perfect introduction to an album filled with "an assortment of rare musical tidbits from the1920s and 1930s." Each original composer is carefully named and the date of origin mentioned, but don't get the idea that this is cold and academic! Klein and the boys obviously love these songs and play them honestly and vigorously.

Put a Flavor to Love begins with the title tune, which comes from 1928. Klein's version starts with echoes of classical piano, a haunting violin, maybe a little gypsy sound, and then perks right up with acoustic instruments bouncing and Klein's little girl vocals which don't arrive till everyone gets a chance to solo. There's some pretty fine picking going on here, and look for the requisite, "ho, do, dee do!" Charming! Guitar solos from Marion and Billy Steele, Kay's upright piano, and what is that percussionist playing?!? Sounds like a whip! Nifty!

"Troubled Water" is just Klein on vocals over Kay's piano. "If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight" brings back the band, with clarinet by Dan Levinson; "My Bundle of Love" is just Janet and Tom Marion's doubling guitar and tenor guitar. You won't recognize most of the titles unless you're as deeply into obscure tunes as Klein and her pals are. I spent a couple of years researching a book about songwriting from this era, and most of these titles escaped me! "Fairy on the Clock," "I'm a Whole Lot Wilder Than I Look," and a hilarious "Biscuit Medley" (rescued from a Vitaphone film short) are a few of the highlights -- but really there are no low-lights.

There is an air of authenticity surrounding this whole project. Janet Klein has done her homework, and come up with a marvelous selection of songs, sometimes obscure, once in awhile familiar, often naughty, funny, fabulous, but always musical. Klein's voice is clear, sexy, a bit nasal, but winning and true. The guitarists are a treat playing runs and chords, keeping things moving with an easy virtuosity that makes the listener smile with awe. There are echoes of the records of Leon Redbone, and Mose Scarlett, but Janet Klein is her own person, and she owns these songs. Twenty-two titles altogether, covering styles from Hawaiian to Django Reinhardt, Put a Flavor to Love adds new spice to a recipe blended for exotic tastes. Put your order in now!

[David Kidney]