For both jazz instrumentalists and vocalists, Paul Simon’s music has long proved a source of inspiration, as covers by pianists Bill Evans and Brad Mehldau, Pat Metheny, Paul Desmond, Karrin Allyson, Kurt Elling and more have attested. With his 14th studio album, the jazz-inspired In The Blue Light, Simon now returns the favour. The album casts fascinating new light on 10 of his songs, a process which he describes in the CD booklet notes as being, “like a new coat of paint on the walls of an old family home”. While Simon has performed with some of these musicians before – drummer Steve Gadd provided the classic, hypnotic drum riff that underpinned ‘50 Ways To Leave Your Lover’, and Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Orchestra have previously joined forces with Simon in NYC – most of these collaborations are new. The three songs featuring the outstanding NYC-based sextet yMusic, ‘Can’t Run But’ (arranged by Bryce Dessner), ‘René And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War’ and ‘Darling Lorraine’, are all standouts. Brilliantly arranged by Marsalis, ‘Pigs, Sheep And Wolves’ is transformed into a New Orleans second line shuffle, and pianist Sullivan Fortner’s incredible touch similarly transforms the moving ‘How The Heart Approaches What It Yearns’ into an impressionistic reverie. Simon appears to revel in this musical company and, at the age of 77, the vocal pipes seem remarkably unchanged.