I like to spend my evenings wrapped in the cool, soft beat of gentle company ... and fine, clear, soft-voiced, lady 'acid jazz' singers that caress the songs they sing. Such a musician is Lisa Shaw and so is the treatment of this album Cherry. Her backing group, far from being part of what she has always done in the past, is both creative and well crafted to fit into every detail of her beautiful new style.
And Ms. Shaw is a very pleasing rarity indeed. She can sing passionately with the likes of Sarah MacLaughlin and perhaps even teach the immaculately casual Diana Krall a lesson or two about 'sultry'.
Her higly endearing and detailed clarity, born of the crisp, stop/start, minimalist, musical instrumental style.. contrasted with her very feminine energetic vibe has everything to do with a mature artist putting out a refreshing new style of cool that is as distinct as it is caringly articulate. This is one of the more entertaining and interestingly varied albums that I have heard in a long time, but then again...acid jazz is not for every one, just those moving on from the same old world of classy but repetitive jazz singers...into an all-too-slowly evolving new age.
Put it on and listen intently to the detail, or play it behind a lazy evening dinner party conversation above the city at home...it fits both well....so well that everyone wants to know who it is....so they can listen !

Lisa Shaw has lent her voice to some great tracks in the past, most notably her collaborations with Jay Denes’ Blue Six project. Here, on her solo album CHERRY, she takes the main stage with production assistance from Mr. Denes himself and Eric Stamile. But it shares the same problems with other solo vocalist album on Naked Music: an over-emphasis on the downtempo soul, not enough on the musical aspects. Sure, the title track has a bit of the funk to keep it going, but other tracks aren’t as distinguished. Somehow, it’s trying too hard to be sultry, and despite Shaw’s beautiful vocals, it isn’t succeeding. “Grown Apart” is slightly more upbeat, and it shows by being catchier, as do the moodier sounds of “Matter of Time” and “Always.” The Jimpster mix of “Let It Ride” has all the sexiness that the rest of the album lacks—perhaps house is the best genre to show off Shaw’s ample talents.