Norte e Sul (North and South)

To be an excellent singer of , whether or or otherwise, an artist must possess a strong yet subtle voice and work with a sympathetic band. To really endear him or herself to fans, though, he or she must also know their repertoire; not only which songs to sing, but how to sing them: which parts to embrace and which to re-imagine (and, of course, the amounts of both). Any of these skills are enough to spark a solid record, but has all of them, and thus her work is usually brilliant. is the third album of what terms a trilogy -- the first was a tribute to poet , the second a collection of her arrangements of songs ( ). She closes out the series by balancing from America and Brazil (thus the title), appropriately recalling her Brazilian forebears and , as well as singers like . The two side-openers, 's are simply enchanting, but the first especially so, one of the best versions of the master heard in many years. On her own arrangement, draws out the lyric even while the rest of the band cuts out for a nimble rewriting of the scales by pianist , resulting in a performance that's simply breathtaking. The American are the only disappointments here (and only in comparison), giving in to an evocation of the notoriously fragile-voiced . ~ John Bush