

On her debut album, Girl Talk, 21-year-old jazz vocalist Monika Borzym chooses an eclectic batch of songs by female composers and interprets them with subtlety and imagination. The Polish-born singer shows a maturity and technical command far beyond her years, aided by Gil Goldstein’s tastefully evocative arrangements. Borzym approaches the material from a fresh perspective as she searches out the emotional nuances and rhythmic possibilities in each lyric. Under her touch, Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good” takes on supper-club sophistication, Estelle’s “American Boy” moves to a breezy bossa nova groove, and Dido’s “Thank You” gains a slinky elegance. Tunes as disparate as Abbey Lincoln’s brooding ballad “Down Here Below” and Björk’s angular, conflicted “Possibly Maybe” are unified by the finesse and conviction in Borzym’s delivery. Her bopping, Annie Ross–like treatments of Fiona Apple’s “Extraordinary Machine” and the Joni Mitchell/Charles Mingus collaboration “Dry Cleaner from Des Moines” are a special treat. If there’s a standout romantic moment here, it’s her poignant take on Rachael Yamagata’s “Even So.”