Viktoria Tolstoy - White Russian (1997) Lossless

A difficult one to categorize, this. Tolstoy is a Swedish singer of - yes, you guessed it! - White Russian extraction and even seems to be related to or descended from (I'm not quite sure which) Mr War and Peace himself. But for the music that's neither here nor there. Tostoy has an attractive, rather soulful voice and sings an array of songs with a contemporary feel written mostly by herself and Esbjörn Svensson, the pianist and leader of the superb trio that backs her. There are some electric keyboard fillings here and there, but they are tastefully done, and some decent sax and trumpet solos on some songs, too. The backing by the versatile trio varies from track to track, from pop to drum 'n' bass to jazz to soul jazz. You can hear they enjoyed themselves during the recording sessions. All in all, a very pleasant and well-produced record that deserves a wider audience than it is probably reaching now. For some readers it may be useful to know that the Tolstoy- Svensson partnership is not unlike the Dutch pairing of soul singer Trijntje Oosterhuis and jazz pianist Michiel Borstlap, who yet have to produce their first record.