Sarah Moule - Something's Gotta Give - Jazz Times

Not only does England's Sarah Moule boast a stunning vocal spectrum-simultaneously tough and tender, warm and cool, sweet and salty-but she's surely done more than any contemporary performer to preserve, protect and promote the stellar work of lyricist Fran Landesman. On her richly praised debut, It's a Nice Thought, Moule showcased Landesman's work with composer Simon Wallace. Now she's back with another half-nod to Landesman, whose songs fill seven of the 14 tracks on Something's Gotta Give (Linn), the balance of the album devoted to the words of Johnny Mercer. Moule does a superlative job of interleaving such Mercer classics as "That Old Black Magic," "Days of Wine and Roses" and "Trav'lin' Light" with the poetic likes of Landesman's misty "Save the Photographs," wittily sophisticated "How Was It for You?" and self-indulgently desolate "Down." But the cherry on this rich layer cake is Moule's closing rendition of Landesman's most famous composition, the hauntingly gorgeous "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most."