When I first put on Handmade (Blue Note, 2011) by Hindi Zahra, I heard something that was pretty familiar. The overall style reminds me quite a bit of Paris Combo. The opening track "Beautiful Tango" has a very old-time sort of gypsy jazz feel to it. It is just acoustic guitar and vocals with the percussion provided by some clapping in the background.
The more I listened, the more I realized there is just something different about this album. I guess it really hit me with the song "Set Me Free." Like the songs before it, this one feels like a pretty simple song. What I mean is that the instrumentation and vocals are pretty minimal, straddling jazz and folk. As I listened I realized that what's different is the layers of sound. The arrangement is not terribly complex, but the layers provided by the minimal instrumentation, the vocals, and the claps provide a richness to the song that may not be a part of the tablature.
And that's the way the entire album is. The songs (part folk, part jazz, part world) are simple but rich. That richness is particularly apparent when you listen to the album on headphones. And that is exactly what I think you should do (particularly if you are a fan of jazzy female vocalists); buy the album, listen to it on headphones and just soak up the layers of sound.
