There are few singers better equipped to make you sit up and really listen than Carmen Souza. Lisbon-born but of Cape Verdean descent, Souza could never be accused of trying to anaesthetise the listener into submission in the manner of some jazz chanteuses; her voice box clearly lacks a cruise-control setting. There's a hint of Blossom Dearie, a suggestion of Billie Holiday, in her agile wiry warble. This is her seventh collaboration with bassist-composer Theo Pascal and it's utterly beguiling and constantly surprising. Horace Silver's father hailed from Cape Verde and there's a nod to that heritage here in the opener, Silver Jr's ‘Cape Verdean Blues’ with words added by Souza. ‘Oui ou Non’, a Souza/Pascal original, provides Matt King with the space for a great keyboard break and sounds like a really inventive addition to the Serge Gainsbourg catalogue. The drumming (mostly) comes courtesy of Empirical's Shane Forbes while there's some inspired, raspy blowing from Craig Yaremko too.