‘Tis the quality jazz singers who stay the course, growing more authentic with age, and this 10th album by British vocalist/pianist Liane Carroll is all the more affecting for the honesty with which she presents love songs written by everyone from Hoagy Carmichael to Jacques Brel and Tom Waits.
Blessed with a warm, expressive voice and an empathetic helmsman in multi-Grammy- nominated producer James McMillan, Carroll and musicians including star saxophonist Kirk Whalum and guitarist Mark Jaimes add new dimensions to tunes that tell of insecurity and loss; of new love, tabooed love and — on a poignant version of You Don’t Know What Love Is — love unrequited.
Bewitching, believable stuff. Carroll plays the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho on Tuesday and Wednesday.