Melody Gardot & Philippe Powell

★★★★ Entre Eux Deux DECCA. CD/DL/LP

American jazz singer’s Parisian love letter.

Born in New Jersey and raised in Philadelphia, Gardot has made Paris her home; she’s idolised in France, speaks the language fluently, and earlier this year became a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the country’s most prestigious cultural award. It’s fitting then that this, her sixth studio LP, is mostly delivered in French. Entre Eux

Deux is a one-on-one collaboration with the French-born son of the Brazilian bossa nova legend Baden Powell, whose soft, Bill Evans-like piano accompaniment is the perfect backdrop for Gardot’s softly sensuous voice. It’s an intimate musical encounter whose languorous chansons – ranging from the wistful This Foolish Heart to the more playful Fleurs Du Dimanche – resonate like whispered confessions. Infusing each melody with a tender soulfulness, Gardot has never sounded better.