Robin Holcomb: One Way or Another, Vol. 1

Robin Holcomb’s albums are few and far between; this is only her ninth since 1989. But each is a gem to be treasured by those who’ve fallen under the sway of the dry quaver of her singing, the subtle complexities of her compositions, and her chamber-jazz approach to reimagining melodies and harmonies on acoustic piano. Her singing is an acquired taste. Among her endorsers are the late producer Hal Willner and guitarist Bill Frisell. The latter played on Holcomb’s self-titled Elektra breakthrough and her Nonesuch album The Big Time. Like Frisell, the Seattle-based Holcomb favors color and mood over instrumental flash and epitomizes a kind of modern-jazz Americana. Her first release since 2010’s The Point of It All, One Way or Another includes bare-bones reworkings of four previously recorded pieces, versions of Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times Come Again No More,” Doc Pomus’ “I’ve Got that Feeling,” and compositions from theater productions inspired by utopian collectives and environmentalist Rachel Carson. The stark, pristinely recorded piano-and-voice treatments, unhurried tempos, and finely wrought imagery suggest a calm, quiet, Andrew Wyeth–like sensibility. That this is Vol. 1 feels like a blessing.