Vocalist Olatuja was a standout performer on pianist-arranger Billy Childs' acclaimed Laura Nyro tribute Map To The Treasure, but this album shows her ability to front a covers project that also has an ambitious premise. As the subtitle states, Olatuja celebrates women composers, and casts the net far and wide, stylistically speaking. That means that western pop staples such as Sade's ‘No Ordinary Love’ share the spotlight with the classic Chilean folk of Violeta Parra's ‘Gracias A La Vida’ and the perennial soul anthem, Linda Creed-Thom Bell's ‘People Make The World Go Round’. Olatuja's re-imaginings are tastefully done each time. Backed by an excellent coterie of musicians, of which drummer-producer Ulysses Owens impresses, she brings a harmonic sheen to the material without encroaching upon the spirit of each piece. No greater example of this is the wholly sensitive recasting of Joni Mitchell's ‘Cherokee Louise’, an essential denunciation of abuse and racism. Olatuja's deeply soulful delivery and nuanced phrasing are consistently impressive on these songs, which are by no means easy to negotiate with the requisite emotional investment as well as musicianship. ‘Just Wait’, the one original she contributes, is excellent and bodes well for more of her own writing if she should be so inclined in the future.