Mark Stryker for the Detroit Free Press (May 2010)

At 24, Champian Fulton is the most gifted pure jazz singer of her generation. In fact, the authoritative swing, mature phrasing, pinpoint diction and sassy color she brings to the standard songbook trumps many senior colleagues with bigger reputations. Her charisma lights up "The Breeze and I" (***, Gut String Records), recorded with a sleek trio in which she plays piano with bassist Neal Minor and drummer Fukushi Tainaka.

Fulton is a traditionalist -- the strutting ebullience and bright timbral ping of Dinah Washington is a touchstone. Fulton's impeccable taste never lets her down, even on ballads. If there's a drawback here it's that her piano playing, while solidly in the bebop mainstream, lacks the spark of her exceptional singing; the instrumental tracks are inevitably letdowns.