Entre Cada Palabra

by Chris Nickson Colombian singer/songwriter Marta Gomez is a wonderful, enigmatic talent. Her voice has the lulling softness that evokes Brazil's female vocal icons, yet there's a depth to her writing that goes far beneath the surface. She's also something of an expert on Latin rhythms -- there are 13 different ones on this disc, all of them rooted in different cultures, from Colombian bambuco to Argentine chamame. But everything is so perfectly put together that you forget the academic side, pulled along by the music and voice. Recorded over just three days, it's a small masterwork. It doesn't matter if you don't understand Spanish, as Gomez evokes delicate moods in her work, each piece beautifully arranged and shaded, with a very live sound. Her last album saw her labeled as a jazz singer, but there's little evidence of that here, possibly quite deliberately. Instead it's an album of low-key Latin music that at times edges toward a more straightforward singer/songwriter stance -- albeit a very classy one (think Joni Mitchell, for example). On the evidence of this and her previous disc, Gomez is a rapidly rising star of genuine quality and inspiration.