The cover of the new Johnny Nocturne CD is enough to break your heart, and that’s purely due to chanteuse Kim Nalley, who looks so Harlem-baby authentic on it she’ll make you nostalgic for an era you were never in. (Well, some of you, anyway. I imagine the old codgers among you might feel their heart stop.)

Saxophonist John Firmin and his Johnny Nocturne band were laying down jump blues and smooth swing long before it became Last Year’s Discovery and This Year’s Fad. But things have really changed now that he’s got his own Dinah Washington/Helen Humes in Nalley. The Million-Dollar Question is: is she real deal, or just another neo-jazz baby with long white gloves and an orchid in her hair?

The answer seems to be yes, to both questions. She’s blessed with an amazingly supple register, which she uses to good effect in the wittier numbers like “Fine Brown Frame” and the sexy stuff like the vibe-caressed standard “If I Could Be With You.” Only problem is, she still seems a bit gimmicky, too eager to rely on her vocal beauty and not willing (or able) to dive into the emotional undertow of the song like her idols. And it doesn’t help that the band sounds somewhat pedestrian, still. She needs to be pushed. (Only pianist Henry Salvia seems to be swinging it rather than reciting it.)

Firmin has everything he needs now to grab the brass band ring: a beautiful chanteuse with chops, Billy Strayhorn and Big Joe Turner songs, and a hot horn section. Now, before the fad leaves us all behind, guys, dig deep and feel it!