MICHAEL MOODY, The Ecstasy of Love

Fans of the dynamic, jazz/soul driven vocal interpreter Michael Moody’s unique phrasing, arrangements and tender intimacy have been waiting seven years – which seems much longer, due to the pandemic – for The Ecstasy of Love, his brilliant, emotionally compelling follow-up to his second standards album It Never Entered My Mind.

While his first two projects had traditional jazz lineups featuring piano and drums, the key to the even more intense, vulnerably intimate romance and heartache he’s sharing here is stripping down to sparse voice, acoustic guitar and bass – and sometimes, voice-guitar and voice-bass duo – arrangements so we can focus on his fresh phrasing and pure vocal expression.

Moody, Paul Bollenback (guitar) and Neal “Sugar Caine” (bass) make a formidable trio, rooted in grace but full of adventure. These 12 pin drop picture-perfect Moody re-imaginings are centered around the mid-repertoire three-pack of Billie Holiday delights, including an understated, impressionistic “Good Morning Heartache” (featuring vocal and bass), a gently hypnotic vocal-guitar meditation on “Don’t Explain” and a plucky vocal-guitar) twist on “You’ve Changed,” whose soft spoken sense of cheer brings light to what could otherwise be melancholy. So yes, Moody is a master at creating sparkling new moods for classics you think you had heard the last of.

The Ecstasy of Love also finds him mining his trademark minimalist gold from the repertoires of Gershwin (“Embraceable You”), Hoagy Carmichael (“The Nearness of You”), Victor Young (“Ghost of a Chance”) and Cole Porter (“Easy to Love”) before wrapping with a dreamy, mystical take on the gospel classic “The Old Rugged Cross” featuring Bollenback’s wafting steel tones.