Art in vocal motion

There are singers and then there are jazz vocal artists. Kendra Shank is in the latter camp. Mentored by the soulfully adventurous Shirley Horn and Abbey Lincoln, she has her own scat language and her own delicious tweaks into dulcet low-registered coos and quick, snatched phrases. Shank will be celebrating her latest disc, "Half Moon," recorded in a friend's New York apartment with pianist Geoffrey Keezer. There are a couple of tunes improvised out of whole cloth but there's also a fantastically creative reworking of Cedar Walton's "Mosaic." Phil Aaron stands in for Keezer alongside bassist Gordy Johnson. (7 p.m. Wed., Crooners, Fridley; $20-$45, croonersloungemn.com)

A splash of France

The band Paris Chansons mixes classic French songs popularized by Charles Aznavour, Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf with jazz standards and other notable European tunes. Three multilingual singers — one female, two male — are backed by a string-oriented quintet with violin and guitar astride a traditional piano-drums-upright bass rhythm section. It meshes well with a posh dinner club like the Dakota. (7 p.m. Wed.-Thu., Dakota, Mpls.; $35-$40, dakotacooks.com)

Gypsy effervescence

Vocalist Cyrille Aimée continues the Franco-jazz theme with a spunky blend of Django-oriented gypsy jazz, scat, show tunes and bebop. A charismatic onstage presence, the French native frequently performs with a delightful pair of guitarists — Michael Valeanu on electric and Adrien Moignard making like Django on acoustic. (7 p.m. Tue., Dakota, Mpls.; $25-$30, dakotacooks.com)

Big man from Kansas City

A wonderful week's worth of vocalists concludes with Kevin Mahogany, the big man with the smooth baritone who seemed to be everywhere in the 1990s, recording regularly for Warner Bros. and claiming a role in the Robert Altman movie "Kansas City," which also happens to be Mahogany's hometown. Mahogany is equally comfortable tackling the biting compositions of Charles Mingus and the sunny hooks of Motown. He'll be appearing with local pianist/composer Mary Louise Knutson. (7 p.m. Tue. and Wed., Aug. 9, Crooners, Fridley; $25-$50, croonersloungemn.com)

Britt Robson