Jacqui Naylor – The Color of Five

By singing a jazz standard over a rock song or the other way around, Jacqui Naylor invented a style of her own called “acoustic smashes.” With The Color Five, she dressed Gershwin’s “Summertime” lyrics in Gregg Allman’s southern-rock “Whipping Post” and Rod Stewart’s “Hot Legs” in Herbie Hancock’s funk-jazz “Cantaloupe Island.” She pulled both tracks off with her slightly scratched voice, versatile phrasing and rhythm sensitivity. Unfortunately the album loses its spell with mundane pop-rock covers like REM’s “Losing My Religion” and U2’s “I Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”