Cassandra Wilson, 'Another Country' (Entertainment One)

I've been waiting a long time for a new Cassandra Wilson album I could really love, and this is it. Bye-bye woozy-bluesy alto wallowing around in her own longueur; hello to a stepped-up pace in a brighter room and a crisper attitude. The key here seems to be producer Fabrizio Sotti (who worked with Wilson on "Glamoured"), who parks Wilson's exquisitely expressive voice atop a bed of plangent acoustic guitar — traces of flamenco and bossa — slaloming electric guitar, reedy accordion and tapping bongos. Wilson even sings the bel canto classic "O Sole Mio" — in Italian — and on the chipper charmer "Almost Twelve," soars above her usual sultry alto into soprano territory.

"Passion" feels urgent in a way Wilson often doesn't — "Close your eyes, hear the beat ... you can feel the heat" (yes, I can) — with a rolling guitar vamp driving the proceedings. "When Will I See You Again" sounds like she actually cares, and "Another Country" — "I saw another country in your eyes" — well, you get the idea. Who knows what sparked all this passion, but a big grazie to whatever (or whomever) it was! And while the closing African chorus on "Olomuroro" is a bit of a cliché these days, the spirit of love and celebration coursing through the veins of this album is welcome, indeed.

Paul de Barros, Seattle Times jazz critic

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