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Cecile McLorin Salvant plays NZ Festival / stuff

Like it or not, today's singers will always be compared with the past. Be it Billie Holiday, Nina Simone or Sarah Vaughan. The really true jazz singers inhabit the song. No use just emoting or note-for-note copying. To get around this problem Cecile McLorin Salvant has, especially on her previous live album, mixed the Great American Songbook with plenty of new material all sung in her inimitable style.

It all feels completely natural, and the moment Salvant slides onto the stage complete with those spectacular signature glasses she has us in the palm of her hand. The concert, part of the New Zealand Festival, starts with Devil May Care in which Salvant starts with a little girl voice (think Blossom Dearie) before swooping into Sarah Vaughan territory and that husky deep baritone. Already, by this time, when it comes to the trio I'm singling out pianist Aaron Diehl and to paraphrase Miles Davis, "Don't play the notes, play what's in between" - we realise we are in the presence of a master and a perfect foil.  PHOTO: Hector Perez

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