Working here with bassist Christian McBride and drummer Steve Gadd -- as on the 2006 set -- she maneuvers through Every Day I Have the Blues like a jazz chanteuse. She shows some gospel earnestness on Respect Yourself, which gets maddeningly repetitive by the end, and squeezes some folky soul from Sarah McLachlan's Angel.

Sample is, as always, a versatile collaborator. The title track, a soulful remake of an Edith Piaf-associated tune, makes for a gentle encounter.

-- KARL STARK

Philadelphia Inquirer

NINA FLETCHER

Courage

Colors of Sound

***

Singer Nina Fletcher leads a recording that spices jazz with soul. The title track sounds like something Leon Thomas (The Creator Has a Master Plan) might sing. It's soulful and genteel, but also cause for some inspired improvisation from Warren Oree's Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble.

This is, at root, a player's record. Fletcher, of Marlton, is a likable performer who kicks through a set mostly of originals that are suave and go down easily. Four-year-old Jade Fletcher even opens one tune, making her auspicious professional debut.

After the vocals, it's off to the races for the ensemble -- saxophonist Umar Raheem, guitarist Frank Butrey, and keyboardist George Burton. Raheem comes off like Pharoah Sanders at times, while drummer Greg ''Juju'' Jones and percussionist Doug ''Pablow'' Edwards create grooves on the slick side.

-- KARL STARK

Philadelphia Inquirer

GOD HELP THE GIRL

God Help the Girl

Matador

*** ½

While Stuart Murdoch was working on the last Belle & Sebastian album, 2007's The Life Pursuit, he hatched the idea for God Help the Girl, a musical narrative with female singers. The result: a set of chiming, chirpy, deeply orchestrated songs that looks backward to '60s Brit-pop (think Sandie Shaw or Petula Clark) and sideways to the last two B&S albums.

The 14 tracks, including two instrumentals and several repurposed and rerecorded Life Pursuit songs, feature the B&S band with gorgeous widescreen orchestral arrangements from B&S' Mick Cooke. The vocals come from newcomer Catherine Ireton and other women (several drafted via an Internet posting), with Murdoch singing on two tracks and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon on one.

Murdoch plans to incorporate these songs into a film, and a few feel constrained by their narratives and a few others seem like very good B&S karaoke. But there are gems, too, including the galloping Musician Please Take Heed, the lilting I Just Want His Jeans, and the goofy I'll Have To Dance With Cassie.

STEVE KLINGE

The Philadelphia Inquirer

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