Jacqui Naylor
has never been afraid to keep listeners guessing. She performs straight-ahead vocal jazz so convincingly that some admirers think that she is really a jazz singer at heart; she performs folk-rock and adult alternative so convincingly that other admirers believe that she is really a singer/songwriter at heart. And
Naylor
doesn't become any easier to categorize on
Lucky Girl
, which not only contains vocal jazz and folk-rock/adult alternative performances, but also moves into soul territory at times. This 2011 release finds
putting her spin on a variety of familiar songs, which range from
Kenny Gamble
&
Leon Huff
's "Close the Door" (a major solo hit for the late
Teddy Pendergrass
in 1978, which was two years after he left
Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes
) to
Henry Mancini
's "Moon River" to
Neil Young
's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart." And
still has fun with "acoustic smashing," which is her term for combining songs in unorthodox ways. For example, her interpretation of
Rodgers & Hammerstein
's "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" borrows the melody of
George Benson
's "Breezin'"; it's not what one expects from that Tin Pan Alley standard, but
makes the two songs sound like a perfectly natural combination. And she even manages to surprise us on the
Matt Dennis
warhorse "Angel Eyes," which is one of those great but overdone standards that has been absolutely beaten to death over the years.
's unlikely version is surprisingly funky; rarely does one hear "Angel Eyes" performed with such an overt R&B influence. The original songs (
co-wrote nine of the CD's eleven tracks with pianist and longtime collaborator
Art Khu
) aren't any less surprising; one never knows if a
/
Khu
original will favor straight-ahead jazz or folk-rock/adult alternative.
's sense of adventure is alive and well on
, which is yet another creative triumph for the hard-to-categorize vocalist. ~ Alex Henderson