Sarah Moule - Something's Gotta Give - Crescendo & Jazz Music

Sarah Moule is one of the better singers among the new breed of British jazz vocalists, mainly because she improvises like a jazz perfomrner rather than just going through the motions like so many of today's singers. Admittedly her intonation occasionally falters (for example, in the the opening track) but she securely negotiates the tricky intervals in a song like Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most. This is one of the seven tracks on the album which are Fran Landesman songs (mostly co-written with Simon Wallace) - an area that Sarah Moule specialises in - and she is excellent at delivering Landesman's bitingly witty lyrics. Listen to how she interprets the ironical words of Down, a savoury hymn to depression (though shouldn't Sarah's voice swoop downwards on the final note?). The Landesman songs are skillfully interspersed with standards which have lyrics by Johnny Mercer: a guarantee of brilliance.

The experienced backing group tightly delivers the well-judged accompaniments, sypathetically arranged by Simon Wallace. This is only Sarah Moule's second album but she is already a name to conjure with.