For those unaware, with Eklektika (out now via Catn’round Sound), her sixth studio album, vocalist Carolyn Lee Jones offers a richly textured and thoughtfully curated program that reflects both her refined musical sensibility and her wide-ranging taste.

A title that plays on the word “eclectic,” the project unfolds as a seamless blend of styles, moods, and influences — held together by Jones’ unmistakable voice and interpretive clarity.

Jones’ path into jazz has never been conventional. After a successful career as a buyer for luxury retailers, she stepped fully into music in 2008, building a second act defined by artistic focus and steady growth. Over the course of five previous albums, she has earned consistent praise and both national and international airplay, establishing herself as a distinctive voice in contemporary vocal jazz.

With Eklektika, Carolyn Lee Jones brings together a program shaped by standards, personal connections, Brazilian and Latin-leaning textures, original material from her extended musical circle, and songs that connect classic vocal jazz to a broader sense of style and storytelling. Jones gives the recording continuity through phrasing, restraint, and the sense that each selection has been personally chosen.

1. Skylark
2. Detour Ahead
3. Take Me Where the Moon Lives
4. That’s What Being in Love Is All About
5. Embraceable You
6. Out of Nowhere
7. Tell Me All About It (Reprise)
8. Morning in Crown Heights
9. Hearts Desire

With the album not simply a varied collection, but one immersed within a dedicated love for her chosen career along with an absorbent, dutifully crafted musical dedication to all-things jazz, Jones opens her new recording on the sumptuous Skylark and the low slung ambiance of Detour Ahead, before the spirited Take Me Where the Moon Lives and the enveloping rhythms of That’s What Being in Love Is All About are brought forth.

Along next is the dutifully soothing Embraceable You which is in turn backed seamlessly by the joyfully playful Out of Nowhere, the affecting melodies of Tell Me All About It (Reprise), the set rounding out on the dulcet Morning in Crown Heights, coming to a close on a resoundingly sheer elegance that shines within Hearts Desire.

Across Eklektika, Jones creates a recording that feels carefully assembled rather than merely varied. Standards sit beside lesser-known songs, personal collaborations, Latin-inflected settings, ballads, and swinging material, unified by her sense of phrasing, taste, and musical identity.

PLAYERS, INSTRUMENT:
Carolyn Lee Jones — vocals; Brad Williams — piano / keys; Peter Rioux — piano; Jorge Ginorio — percussion; Willie Wrinkle — bass; Young Heo — bass; James Driscoll — bass; Jonathan Fisher — bass; Roger Boykin — guitar; Todd Parsnow — guitar; Andrew Griffith — drums; Shelley Carrol — saxophone; Mario Cruz — saxophone

www.carolynleejones.com