jazz

Vocalist Jackie Ryan's bio constantly stresses her ethnic heritage — mother of Mexican descent, Irish father — seeking to explain the California native's linguistic agility. Her latest, This Heart of Mine (Open Art), features songs in English, Italian, Portuguese and Sranan Tongo, a mutt of a language from Suriname that Ryan delineates in an accompanying essay. But one listen to that warm, caressing voice, equally expressive in each of these diverse tongues, is all the explanation needed. Much like opera, in fact, the unfamiliar languages serve to greater spotlight Ryan's instrument, unhindered by verbiage. Also operatic is Ryan's dramatic sense, her plastic use of rhythm virtually channeling the emotional meaning of each lyric. But for all her control, Ryan can also loosen up, wearing a wry smirk on "When I Grow Too Old to Dream" and conjuring a holy-roller church on the Duke Ellington/Ben Webster gospel foot-stomper "Jump for Joy."

Fri., Oct. 14, 5:45 and 7:15 p.m., $10, Great Stair Hall, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 26th St. and the Parkway, 215-763-8100.