Lisa Sokolov

New York-based vocalist Lisa Sokolov emerged during the 1990s as one of jazz’s more inventive and risk-embracing singers, drawing early guidance from Betty Carter and Sheila Jordan. While her approach stops short of Ann Dyer’s full-throttle experimentalism and never ventures as far outside the center as Carter herself, traces of the latter’s phrasing remain audible. What distinguishes Sokolov is her seamless merging of avant-garde jazz principles with the raw textures of soul and blues alongside the narrative sensibility of cabaret and theater music—an uncommon synthesis that allows her to channel Carter’s abstract leanings while also delivering the gritty, full-throated conviction associated with Patti LaBelle. Earthy and down-home one moment, she can shift without strain into cerebral, abstract territory the next. Her debut recording, Angel Rodeo, appeared on Laughing Horse in 1993 and included tabla contributions from Badal Roy; four years later the same label issued her follow-up, Lazy Afternoon. The most unrestrained performances she had yet committed to disc arrived with the 2004 release Presence.