A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)

Do you need to understand what’s being sung in order to enjoy a vocal performance? Clearly not, if the evidence of this set by German-Iranian vocalist Cymin Samawatie and her quartet is to be believed: listening to Phoenix I may have been missing some of the subtler nuances of the lyrics – well, all of them, actually – but treating the voice as an instrument proves quite rewarding when it’s as affecting as Samawatie’s. That’s particularly so in the first of two tracks from which the album takes its name, where she duets with Martin Stegner’s viola in especially striking manner. In fact, throughout this set the combination of Samawatie’s vocals and the mixture of jazz shapings and unfamiliar rhythms is highly involving, helped by the way this recording makes the slightest touch of stick on cymbal crystal clear and reveals instruments in sharp relief. AE Sound Quality: 83% Hi-Fi News Lab Report This 96kHz recording is accompanied by a significant level of spuriae (30-38kHz) also seen on ECM’s Jacob Young Forever Young [reviewed here].

If perchance you woke up this morning and thought to yourself ‘Y’know what? The one thing really missing from my music collection is a jazz bass solo cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”’, then here’s just the album for you. If not, then you’ll be pleased to know that track is one of very few misfires on this set by bassman Ben Williams – well, along with the over-rapped and insubstantial ‘Toy Soldiers’ immediately after it. Otherwise this is a tightly-recorded, fine-sounding package. It’s a bass-player’s album, which means the instrument is prominent in the clean, crisp mix, but fortunately Williams is a very fine, very expressive player, as is the band with which he’s surrounded himself here, whether on the harder-hitting cuts or the more lyrical tracks.

Like Cassandra Wilson’s Coming Forth By Day [reviewed here], this album marks the centenary of Billie Holiday’s birth – and while one might expect James’s voice to be less well suited to the music most associated with the singer than Wilson’s, in fact exactly the opposite is true. Whereas Wilson’s set sounds mannered and highly constructed, James’s has a more sincere feel to it, not least due to the relaxed interplay between his voice, Jason Moran’s piano, John Patitucci on bass and Eric Harland’s controlled, expressive drumming. The band sounds tight and intuitive – listen to the bluesy opening of ‘Fine And Mellow’ to appreciate that – and the perfect foil for James’s warm, rich voice. At the risk of labouring the point, this album’s gospelly, plaintive take on ‘Strange Fruit’ moves in a way Wilson’s widescreen epic reading entirely fails to.

94kHz/24-bit WAV, Linn Records AKD531 (supplied by www. linnrecords. com) This session came about by public demand – in between touring with her bands, Emily Barker was also playing solo acoustic shows of songs old and new, and kept being asked whether these versions of her catalogue were available to buy. As a result, she went into London’s Toerag Studios, known for its use of vintage equipment, along with producer Liam Watson, and recorded this live-to-tape, no edits set, accompanied only by her guitar and harmonica.