Christine Rosholt: Detour Ahead

Twin Cities-based vocalist Christine Rosholt comes from a theater background, but her debut CD, Detour Ahead, shows that she can take a side road and turn it into a very appealing main thoroughfare. The set's atmosphere is elegant and a bit sassy, with Rosholt—in front of a crack band that really knows how to swing—displaying sharp articulation and a clear, clean tone from the Ella Fitzgerald school of jazz vocals.

The set opens with style on the familiar standard "East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)," where Rosholt eases her cool vocal into a piano trio arrangement that features a jewel of a piano solo from Tanner Taylor. Johnny Mercer's "Early Autumn" shifts the tone into a higher gear that has the band bouncing and Rosholt's voice cutting through sweetly. It's hard to take your ear off her easy phrasing and subtle shifts in inflection, but again Taylor sparkles with a style that compliments Rosholt's vocals perfectly.

An interesting addition here is Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Chega de Saudade (No More Blues)." Rosholt's delivery, in English, is crisper than the normal bossa nova mode, before vocalist/guitarist Robert Everest takes a turn in Portugese, with the hushed and slightly fuzzy intonation usually associated with the bossa sound. The title tune, a melancholy ballad with an achingly beautiful, no-frills vocal by Rosholt, is another highlight.

The set also features "You and the Night and the Music"; a couple of Cole Porter tunes, "It's De-lovely" and "From This Moment On"; "Daydeam," from the Strayhorn/Ellington songbook; "I Cover the Waterfront," "Bye Bye Blackbird," and an unusual take on Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose" with a B3 organ in the mix, giving the tune less of the traditional rollick, more of a cool flow.

A fine debut by vocalist Christine Rosholt.