Deep, beautiful sounds
"Rebecca Martin's vocals are like Modigiliani portraits. They share a sharply honed, less-is-more sensibility that, paradoxically, adds to their depth, their denseness and their haunting aftereffects. By reducing these jazz standards to their essence and allowing them to gradually unfurl, she enables remarkably fresh perspectives. Consider, for instance, how she strips away the pathos that habitually envelops "For All We Know" and, led by Bill McHenry's luring sax, reveals a sensuous fatalism that is far more cunning. Then listen to how craftily she intensifies the ache of "Lush Life" by inverting the expected path, tracing the hollows rather than riding the swells. And appreciate how she brightens the sweet optimism of "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" not, as is too often the case, with blinding sunniness, but with a gentle contentment that seems shaped of slow-floating clouds.
