With each successive, and successful album, Bria Skonberg becomes more and more the latest generation’s Diana Krall. Initially starting out as a “trad” trumpet player who sang a bit, Skonberg is turning into an impressive vocalist who now intermittently blows a solo here and there. This latest album has her interpreting some clever oldies and bringing in three originals in a variety of settings.
She shows how to coo on a New Orleans-grooved “Alright, Okay, You Win” and a splashy “Cocktails For Two” with a core team of Gil Goldstein/key-ac, Sullivan Fortner/p, Scott Colley/b and Matt Wilson/dr. She delivers a quirky “Same Kind of Crazy” with Wilson, while some hip woodwinds team with his brushes on a boppy “My Baby Just Cares For Me.” She initially whispers the intro to “It’s Oh So Quiet” before letting the party build up, and “Whatever Lola Wants” is speakeasy loose. Her horn still impresses on the swinging “Time To Go” and icy cool “Dance Me to the End of Love” where she taps into her inner Madeleine Peyroux. While some may quibble about her change of direction, she makes it work, and work well.