Barb Jungr - Shelter From The Storm - All About Jazz

Barb Jungr's art makes a grand argument for her being the most innovative singer in jazz since Cassandra Wilson. She has single-handedly emerged as the principle momentum behind expanding the "Standards Songbook" forward in time to include the Beatles, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and David Bowie. Her previous recording, Hard Rain (2014) was a revelation in the music of Dylan and Cohen, released after her very well received Every Grain of Sand (Linn, 2002). She has shown herself a smart collector of her repertoire and instrumental in the unique arrangements she employs. On Barb Jungr: Shelter from the Storm-Songs of Hope for Troubled Times, Jungr taps the resources of pianist (and Kurt Elling accompanist) Laurence Hobgood, in a simple jazz piano trio format to address another batch of Dylan and Cohen songs with David Bowie, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Bernstein and Sondheim, and Joni Mitchell thrown in. Hobgood does the arranging duties, imbuing the music with a certain dramatic pathos that drives like some divine momentum as a remnant through the collection. The title piece is presented as a complex tone poem that evolves from a simple presentation to a complex and demanding ending. The mashup of "All Along the Watchtower" with Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" is inspired and intelligent. A fine effort by all.