Stripped in Bloomington, MN

Recorded for
Chesky
as part of the label's Binaural+ series, this session,
Macy Gray
's ninth proper studio album, was caught by a single microphone in a Brooklyn church. Backed by a quartet featuring trumpeter
Wallace Roney
, drummer
Ari Hoenig
, bassist
Daryl Johns
, and guitarist
Russell Malone
, it's a natural direction for
Gray
, as she started in jazz bands, putting her unique spin on classics, and has cited jazz vocalists as influences throughout her career. Apart from two originals and as many covers,
revisits her own work. "I Try" and "Slowly" are transformed into quiet rumbles, while "Sweet Baby" gets a
Bo Diddley
beat makeover. She even goes back to
Metallica
's "Nothing Else Matters," guided by
Johns
' bass, which alternates between a stutter and a strut.
Bob Marley
's "Redemption Song," which
has been performing since Hurricane Katrina (if not earlier), gets a solemn, lullaby-like reading. The finishing touch, the lone song
and the band wrote together, is a lovely ballad that showcases
Roney
and, well, the singer's suggestive wordplay. All of this is best heard in a late-night setting. The volume of
's rasping voice rarely breaks above the level of an intimate conversation -- at times, she sounds a bit off in the distance -- and the group plays as if it's trying not to disturb a dozing parishioner. For all its emphasis on the past,
Stripped
sounds like a step forward. ~ Andy Kellman