Given the dire need in 2020 for a calming of nerves, New Jersey-born, Paris-based jazz singer Melody Gardot offers a romantic set of ballads and lilting Brazilian numbers on Sunset in the Blue, produced by Larry Klein, lushly arranged for the Royal Philharmonic by Vince Mendoza, and engineered by Al Schmitt at Abbey Road Studios (with COVID precautions taken). Not on the album is her 2020 single “Little Something” featuring Sting, but the reading of Elton John’s lesser-known “Love Song” helps establish a certain classic pop framework. She reaches back to an earlier era with “You Won’t Forget Me” (sounding pretty close to Carly Simon’s ’90s rendition), the Mancini perennial “Moon River,” and Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn’s “I Fall in Love Too Easily” with just bass and guitar to close it out (with shades of Chet Baker and Miles Davis). The tasteful yet very present rhythm section keeps the music crisp, not least on the more upbeat and orchestra-free “Ninguém, Ninguém.”