Raya Yarbrough performs debut album

Raya Yarbrough
Telarc

You'll find this disc in the jazz section, as good a categorization as any for this quixotic album. Yarbrough has a jazz singer's precise phrasing and rhythm and the album's many moods call to mind a tight band doing playful improvisations through a variety of styles. Starting with the lightly bluesy "Lord Knows I Would," the album gently sways from strangely austere reggae ("You're So Bad For Me") to soft cocktail jazz ("Hollywood Love") to highfalutin piano rock "'Round We Go.") A consistently light touch is what makes it all swirl together so deliciously; Yarbrough has a knack for invention that doesn't descend into mere novelty, like the subtle loops and electronica touches that re-imagine the bebop classic "Joy Spring" and the mellow story-song she adds to "Mood Indigo." But the high points are her original songs, which show she's as deft a hand with words as she is with music.