Resophonic guitar, an instrument most closely associated with bluegrass and the blues, might seem an odd choice to build an album of jazz standards around. But in the hands of master musician Rob Ickes, its rounded, full tone and slippery, legato lines perfectly fill the role that a sax or trombone might hold in a traditional jazz ensemble. Playing here in a stripped-down setting with just jazz pianist Michael Alvey for instrumental support, Ickes glides elegantly through a collection of standards such as Horace Silver’s achingly beautiful “Song for My Father,” and two Wes Montgomery classics including the soulful title track. Jazz vocalist Robinella lends her lusty alto to some outside-the-box tunes like Hank Williams’s “You Win Again” to great effect. Throughout the album, Ickes, who has dominated the bluegrass awards for dobro for the past decade, shows the master’s touch of playing any genre with intuition and grace, shadowing his solos with delicate nuance and a horn player's grasp of dynamics and timbre. Rising to the considerable challenge, he has created a lasting masterpiece that instantly creates a place for his chosen instrument in a musical style that is at once parochially traditional and open to endless experimentation. (Reso Revolution Records, resorevolution.com)