This album contains some of the freshest vocals you’re going to come across this year. Hungarian vocalist Nikolett Pankovits melds Old World charms with modern jazz sensibilities in an irresistible stew on these ten songs. Some are traditional Hungarian folk tune derivations, others are jazz standards and you even get an original here and there. She mixes and matches with a jazz combon as well as a string section, as the traditional “Kis Kece Lanyom” and “Madarka, Madarka” have her in native tongue with Eastern European strings floating around her wide eyed voice as she sings and sighs through the lyrics. Her own “Stop For A Moment” is sleek and rich, while she is tender along with Greg Tardy’s tenor sax on a velvet soft “Where Do You Start.” With pianist Jason Linder, she takes you to a downstairs cabaret on “”Don’t Ask Me Who”. The knockout punch, however, is a read of “Gloomy Sunday” that has her singing in Hungarian along with the stark bass accompaniment of John Benitez which gradually undulates with shadowy drum, violin and guitar, taking you to a dark recess.
This one is an album you won’t forget for quite awhile. Whew!
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