The third album by Milwaukee jazz/pop chanteuse Roxi Copland delivers an unlikely mélange of vulnerability, self-refection, street savvy, humor and sultriness that works better than the combination might at first indicate. Her sultriness tends to inform most every other effect she’s going for, considering the breathy alto fronting her own piano work and the small combo behind her.
Bad Decision’s titular track sets something of a template for developing a character through the other 10 songs. Copland portrays a woman attracted to men given to unfortunate, if not always life altering, choices. Within that framework, she leaves room to encourage her listeners to a kind of perseverance. On some tracks, Copland’s airy arrangements and slowly insinuating melodic hooks, abetted by occasional glimmers of steel guitar, posits her in a space akin to where Norah Jones might have landed had her affinity for country music manifested differently. Whether classified as jazz with adult album alternative radio in mind or idiosyncratic pop for jaded adults who can laugh at themselves, Copland’s Decision isn’t bad at all.
