Sara Serpa & Andre Matos: Primavera

Sara Serpa is an outlier, one of a handful of vocalists in contemporary music exploring the frontiers of the voice as an improvising instrument. Even when the Lisbon native is singing lyrics, which is only half the time, she sounds her words like a horn, and her wordless vocalese are clear as crystal, without a hint of "scat". Guitarist Andre Matos, Serpa's partner in music and life, provides quietly adroit accompaniment to this paean to springtime, celebrating not only the season but the birth of their first child. Influential saxophonist Greg Osby, one of Serpa's many admirers, and multi-instrumentalist Leo Genovese add other layers to the mix, but the main instrument here is Serpa's clear, unaffected voice. A breath of fresh air to blow the cobwebs of winter away. saraserpa.com