Paloma Dineli Chesky: Memory

Sometimes a listener fixes on a particular version of a tune, especially on first hearing. The result can be good or simply limiting. Someone may never quite escape first exposure; it influences all subsequent experience. Some perhaps learned "Corcovado" when Miles Davis did it on Quiet Nights (Columbia, 1963). It may have been an odd choice for a first exposure to Davis, but it did happen in the early 1960s.

Paloma Dineli Chesky sings "Corcovado" much as he played it: plangent yet breathy. Hers is not an imitation by any means, but conjures up Davis' bittersweet feeling of, as an anonymous person in the liner notes to Quiet Night said, "a child locked out." A lovely song, tinged by sadness and longing. Chesky has the perfect voice for it. In her Brazilian Portuguese, the effect is magical. While Chesky's version of "House of the Rising Sun" is definitely not Nina Simone, Chesky brings the same rawness and power to it that Simone did, disconcerting after an equally soulful but more laid back "Summertime." "Green," an original, displays Chesky's talents as a writer. "Baby Face" is yet another original that hints at clave at the outset, but then switches into a flat-out four, with a very tasteful sax solo. "Memory," too, is an original. Here, Chesky floats over and around the time, playing off the bass and guitar, occasionally, but not always, stopping for bar lines. Somehow, "Sober Now" suggests that when Ms Chesky lets go of something or someone, she is done. There is again a bit of Simone. Chesky could do a lot worse for an influence.

The band is perfectly adjusted to Chesky's style, subtly shading her emphases, adding accents where needed. At times, the band is an extension of her voice; separating her voice from their riffing is nearly impossible. Maxwell Barnes on tenor sax is particularly simpático, but everyone was up for this date.

Chesky is based in New York with family in Brazil, and it is difficult to imagine a more difficult market in which to start. Emerging singers are often said not to be distinctive enough or far too idiosyncratic for their own good. Women in particular get critiques about everything from style to delivery to dress. Well yes, Chesky has her own way, but for the most part does not overdo things. Chesky will be a singer with whom to reckon for years to come: "I want to tie different style and ideas together." Indeed she does, and with considerable originality and spontaneity as well. She is not just an updated version of a classic, impressive and difficult as that itself may be.

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