Jacqui Dankworth - Back To You (2009)

With her Candid Records releases, As the Sun Shines Down On Me and Detour, singer Jacqui Dankworth charted the leap forward she made in 2003 and 2004: a blossoming of confidence that expressed itself in effortless command at low volumes, and with minimal accompaniment, on standard songs, classy pop, gospel music and a lot more. This set is just as refined and subtle, without any fashionable jazz-diva coyness.

Its range is narrower, sticking mainly to soul/gospel mid-tempo pieces; Dankworth may be underplaying her strengths as an interpreter by featuring as many as six originals here. Her account of James Taylor's The Secret of Life is affectingly lyrical, however, and she builds Randy Newman's Every Time It Rains and Sting's I Was Brought to My Senses to heated, soulful conclusions, making shrewd use of overdubbed vocal harmonies on the latter. But the sharpest contrast on this low-key, immaculately controlled programme is a clever, softly dancing adaptation of Ralph Towner's Beppo - the only track to emphasise this accomplished singer's lighter, jazzier side.