Shirley Smart originally trained as a classical cellist before relocating to Jerusalem, where she resided for the entire decade of the 1990s, soaking up a wide spectrum of middle-eastern and other related folk music. Work with Omer Avital, Yasmin Levy and others opened her up to creating a dialogue with her improvising and jazz sensibilities. Returning to London in 1999, her versatility has made her the go-to cellist for Mulatu Astatke, Antonio Forcione, Alice Zawadzki and Neil Cowley, and this is her first recording under her own name. As a cellist-composer she morphs effortlessly from Stephane Grappelli Hot Club swing and Bird-like bebop, but the jazz influence is evident in the soloing rather than being organically linked to her latin and North African music-influenced trio. There's more meditatively spacey settings such as her oud-like cello on Anouar Brahem original ‘Halfouine’, that has a painterly contribution from Orphy Robinson on vibes and a take on traditional tunes from Macedonia and Algeria features fine guitarist Nicolas Meier and Nikki Iles, more unusually on a Richard Galliano-inspired accordion. Along the way Smart writes a few attractive themes too, such as the Avishai Cohen-ish opener ‘Waltz for an Amethyst’. You don't come away from the recording feeling you know the artist's signature yet, but as a jazzy showcase of her global folk music-inspired compositions, it's a charming kaleidoscope.