Gretchen Parlato Flor

The nine-track album, a heartfelt paean to both Brazilian music and motherhood, opens with the profoundly beautiful ‘É Preciso Perdoar', a song popularised by one of Parlato's most important touchstones, João Gilberto, for which she contributes new English lyrics. The central influence of R&B in Parlato's music is referenced here in a brilliant 5/4 reworking of the Anita Baker hit ‘Sweet Love' which features Gerald Clayton on Fender Rhodes.

In a stroke of arranging genius, one of Roy Hargrove's greatest tunes, ‘Roy Allan', from his 1995 Verve album Family, is transformed into a mesmerising samba, its preludial opening of voice and percussion featuring the great Airto Moreira suddenly bursting forth in a glorious blast of choral colour and warmth. It is, without question, one of the greatest feats of musical alchemy you'll hear this year. In Pixinguinha's transporting ‘Rosa' and the captivating ‘Minuet' from Bach's ‘Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007', Parlato – to paraphrase the artist Paul Klee – takes the wordless melodic line for a walk, while her lyrics for ‘Magnus', ‘What Does A Lion Say?' and ‘Wonderful' are movingly written for and about her six-year-old son. Tempos throughout are perfectly judged and always serve to tell the story in the most powerful way possible. A standout cover of David Bowie's ‘No Plan' from his posthumously released EP of the same name – featuring Mark Guiliana who played on both the No Plan EP and Bowie's final album, Blackstar – brings this remarkable album to a close.