Grammy-nominated singer and pianist Karrin Allyson starts “April Come She Will” in the same melancholy mood as the Simon and Garfunkel original, then pushes the tune into a gently swinging cadence.
That rhythm, trickling along like a babbling brook, contrasts nicely with her wood-grained, country-inflected delivery of the lyric — giving “April,” a meditation on love’s ebbs and flow through the prism of changing seasons, this new worldliness that goes beyond the original’s weary nostalgia.
Allyson is joined here and elsewhere on ’Round Midnight, her 13th album on Concord, by long-time guitarist Rod Fleeman, as well as Bob Sheppard on woodwinds, drummer Matt Wilson and bassist Ed Howard, who’s previously worked with Shirley Horn.
Together, they present a series of songs that are of an emotional piece, delicately conveyed and elegantly constructed — with “April” as a high-water mark.
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