According to the densely twisted liner notes (awkwardly translated, I suspect, from the original French or German) for the debut disc from Swiss singer Lisette Spinnler and her trio (pianist Oliver Friedli, bassist Patrick Sommer and drummer Andreas Hoerni), we’ve suffered “the demise of the truly great female vocalists in jazz.” That’ll be news, I suspect, to Diana Krall, Dianne Reeves, Luciana Souza, Lorraine Feather, Patricia Barber, Rebecca Kilgore, Claire Martin and at least a dozen others whose individual and collective dynamism shows no signs of abating. That Spinnler might one day join their ranks is certainly possible-nay, likely.
As evidenced by impressively bold readings of “Afro Blue,” “You Don’t Know What Love Is” and a half-dozen interesting Friedli compositions, Spinnler’s got the range, passion and imagination to go far. First, though, she must learn that outre doesn’t automatically translate to outstanding, or original.
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