This immensely enjoyable album from the Rwanda-born, UK-based vocalist and composer, Ineza, scores highly for its immaculately chosen song list which ranges from Jazzmeia Horn’s terrific ‘Free Your Mind’ to another song which effortlessly combines melodic beauty and emotional depth, Abbey Lincoln’s ‘Throw It Away’.

The music of the wondrous Billie Holiday stands at the heart of this collection, with powerful interpretations of ‘Tell Me More’, with its strong blues feeling – one of a number of tracks where the textural palette is subtly expanded by the addition of strings – the Holiday-Jeanne Burns co-write ‘Who Needs You’, first recorded and released by Aretha Franklin and Ray Bryant in 1961, plus one of Holiday’s signature songs, ‘Good Morning Heartache’, in which you really get to hear the mellifluously lyrical quality of Ineza’s voice.

Other highlights include ‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love’, in which she perfectly conveys the song’s uplifting lyrics and timeless message, plus Betty Carter’s ‘I Can’t Help It’ which serves as the album’s striking centrepiece. The fine Ineza-Alex Webb co-write, ‘The Dream Has Landed’, whets the appetite for the forthcoming album of Ineza’s original music, which looks set to be one of the most intriguing vocal jazz releases of 2025.