Jazz buffs have been anticipating this debut album from the winner of the Thelonius Monk Competition. A Miami native of Haitian heritage, McLorin is the whole package: a captivating singer and inventive pianist with a throwback’s sense of where jazz got a spark in the first place. “You Bring Out the Savage in Me” had not been recorded since 1935. McLorin’s interpretation works in a melodious Tarzan yell. Fats Waller’s “Jitterbug Waltz” gets perhaps its’ most mischievously seductive take. Her compositions include the assertive title tune and a closing mini-dirge “Deep Dark Blue.” From penetration a la Ella to a range like Sarah Vaughan, McLorin’s voice may itself become a standard for future comparisons.
This article appears in Jul 25-31, 2013.