Vocalist Veronica Swift has mostly been associated with her partnership with pianist Benny Green, and while she teams up with him on a handful of the tracks here, she stretches out as well with a mix and match collection with trad pianist Emmet Cohen as well as bassists Russell Hall-David Wong and drummers Carl Allen-Kyle Poole. Her voice is strong, confident and expressive, and her arrangements of standards is clever and fresh.
She can go from declaratory to story telling on material like the deft “You’r Gonna Hear About Me” while she gives a great send-off with Wong on a clear eyed “I Hope She Makes You Happy.” She and the team get uptown on a bluesy “A Little Taste” and she flits down into soft and subdued shadows on a delicate “A Stranger In Town.” Piano strings are strummed to create sparkles on her exotic “Gypsy In My Soul,” with Green giving thoughtful support to her vulnerable mood on “Confession/The Other Woman.” She saunters across the floor barefoot as she flows on “No Rights,” is clear and hep on “I’m Hip” and does a sly duet with Hall with a twinkle in her eye for “No Not Much.” Impressive and enthused.