A previous finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocal Competition, and winner of the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition in 2012, French-born, NYC-based singer Cyrille Aimée’s follow-up to her celebrated major label debut It’s a Good Day confirms her position as one of today’s most captivating vocalists. Taking the listener on an emotional ride with each song, and singing with great warmth, joie de vivre and crystal clear articulation throughout, the sparkling album opener ‘Live Alone And Like It’ vibrates between blues and gypsy swing, the latter one of the singer’s first musical loves. It says a lot that Sondheim handpicked Aimée to perform the song for his Encore Series at New York’s City Center. Clearly a fan of bassist and composer Oscar Pettiford, whose ‘Tricotism’ featured on her debut, Aimée and bassist Sam Anning deliver a swinging, stripped back take on Pettiford’s ‘Laverne Walk’. Other highlights include the freeflowing rapport between singer and band in ‘There’s A Lull In My Life’, coloured by the layering of rippling guitar lines, the powerful scat that lights up ‘Let’s Get Lost’, and the breakneck swing of ‘Three Little Words’.