Side Trip * http://www.fishpond.com/Music/Side-Trip-Katie-King/0609782101822

Artist: Katie King

• Side Trip was a departure from Katie King's previous recordings in that it found the sultry, smoky-voiced jazz/pop/blues singer working with an organ combo. For King, it was obviously a logical departure -- the Seattle native has a very bluesy quality to her voice, and organ combos are about as bluesy as it gets in jazz. Joined by organist Ron Weinstein, saxman Craig Flory, and drummer Mike Stone, King provides an appealing jazz-noir ambience and surprises by embracing a fair number of rock songs. It's no shock that King successfully interprets Cole Porter's "I Love Paris" and Billie Holiday's "Now or Never," but it is pleasantly surprising to hear John Lennon's "Imagine," the Rolling Stones' "Miss You," the Beatles' "I Will" and Bob Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" reinvented as jazz-pop. Side Trip is King's most risk-taking CD, and it's also her most interesting. ~ Alex Henderson