London singer Nao made her name as a prophet of high-gloss R&B, weaving together strands of deep house, neo-soul, and liquid funk, and singing in an arresting, muscular falsetto. But before all that, she spent four years studying vocal jazz at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, immersing herself in the music of Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, and Sarah Vaughan. The 38-year-old musician returns to these roots on Autumn, her fifth album and the first of a season-themed four-album suite. Created alongside producer Dave Okumu (lead singer of The Invisible), Autumn takes its cues from jazz’s looseness, drawing parallels between its sense of release and that of autumn itself: “Fall sheds, winter sleeps, and summer’s real,” she sings on “Burst.” Along the way, she folds in a few timeless inspirations—“Eugene” is a warm, groovy homage to D’Angelo’s Voodoo, detouring for tributes to Marvin, Curtis, Stevie, and Sly.