Martine Carri: Blackfoot

From Montreal, home of the best jazz festival in the world and some of the finest jazz musicians in Canada, comes Martine Carrière. She is on her second CD, bringing in tow a top-notch band of musicians. They have played with her before, and the empathy between them gives the music a natural air that captures the zest, happiness, and intimacy of the songs.

Carrière sings with a warm passion that light up a ballad, and she has a penchant for scatting which adds sauce to the songs. The setup varies as she uses duo, trio, and quartet configurations to give a song greater depth.

Carrière and Daniel Lessard come together on "I Didn't Know What Time It Was, elation dancing in her voice, the bass springy and the bassist doing scatting softly. Jean Beaudet, Zack Lober, and Ugo DiVito (who perform as the Jean Beaudet Trio) are the choice on "One Note Samba." Carrière is in her element singing and scatting with abandon, but the band adds a unique element. Beaudet is a pianist who pushes structures, his playing rich in harmonic structure. The rhythm section surely enough is hot, and the whole makes for an elevating listen.

Beaudet sets up the tone for "Peace, the music flowing gently and easily on this duo outing. Then comes the singing, which delves into the core of the lyric and lends a strong impact to its message. "Silence is one of the tracks that showcases Carrière's ballad side. On this compact performance tenor saxophonist Chet Doxas takes the listener on a stimulating journey, first cleaving close to the melody and then going off on a molten tangent in a constant flow of changing shape.