Nnenna Freelon - Shaking Free (1996)

Personnel: Nnenna Freelon (vocals); Scott Sawyer (guitar); Rickey Woodard (saxophone, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Woody Woodward (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Bill Anschell (piano); Woody Williams (drums); Alex Acuсa (congas).

Freelon isn't much of a lyricist (a typically stiff couplet is "We have come to find/ Intimate connection of heart and mind"), but she has a sure instinct for the way melody flows. Her soprano isn't overpowering, but it is extremely graceful and thus perfectly fits the easy-going songs she writes and chooses. Her road band of pianist/arranger Bill Anschell, bassist John Brown and drummer Woody Williams are also well attuned to this approach; after two-plus years together, the four musicians seem to glide as one. The album does include standards by Harold Arlen, Jimmy Van Heusen and the like, but the highlights are a leisurely treatment of Dizzy Gillespie's "Birk's Works" and a dreamy version of the old folk tune "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair." --Geoffrey Himes