Instrumentalists are often praised for wearing many musical hats. Vocalists? Not so much. But over her many years in New Orleans, Meschiya Lake has played the chanteuse in duets with pianist Tom McDermott, led her own jumping trad jazz band, the Little Big Horns, sang harmonies with Tuba Skinny vocalist Erika Lewis in Magnolia Beacon and even ripped rock ’n’ roll as a backing vocalist with the Rough 7.

Her latest album, Looking the World Over, with a band dubbed the New Movement, is more of a lateral move. Recorded in Berlin right before the pandemic hit with a different set of musicians, the album resonates by cutting across genres.

The first tune, Duke Ellington’s “I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good)” opens with a gentle strum from guitarist Leo Forde and a pretty piano figure from Declan Forde. Lake’s vocals enter, as languid as I have ever heard, stretching syllables, as she inhabits the old standard. 

Two cuts later, the band shifts gears into a ska groove for another classic, “Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think).” Drummer Ugo Aluni and bassist James Banner anchor the cut with an island groove. The horns of trumpeter Laurent Humeau and trombonist Carlos Santana punch in before Humeau takes a swell solo. Needless to say, Lake crushes the vocal.

The leader contributes lyrics to two originals, co-written by producer François Perdriau. “My Sweet Little Girl from New Orleans” features a sumptuous guitar solo and great clarinet work from Eldar Tsalikov.

The closing cut, the original “The Place I Call Home,” feels like a funeral hymn sung by the protagonist before her death. She reaches deep on the vocal and the listener can feel the release.

It might seem from reading this that it’s a morbid way to end the album but given all the musical joy that comes before it’s more like a statement of fact in times like these.