There are no copycat retreads here. Tasteful jazz-inflected settings for the band, with most arrangements by pianist Jeff Colella, and pensive but pretty singing make us listen perhaps more attentively. “Up on the Roof” is a splendid example of how a canny singer and arranger can refresh something that has already had a few differently distinctive treatments. While this is an endearing, uncomplicated portrait of respite, Judy Wexler can also dig deeper. Her nuanced handling of Paul Simon’s “American Tune” captures its wistful melancholy and doesn’t shy away from its sense of defeat. Vulnerable and touching, with strings appearing to underscore the mood, it makes this Garden bloom its brightest.

– Rob Lester, Talkin’ Broadway