Before things start in earnest, a touch of stage management. Cassandra Wilson lays a towel over the Jazz Cafe's sticky podium, slips off her shoes and then stands on the small blue cotton island in the middle of the black rubber floor. Even those near the back have a prime view of her ankles, a privilege denied by the bigger venues where the singer usually appears.

The intimacy of the occasion is heightened when a man who is, quite literally, at Wilson's feet, requests a song. She acquiesces. Love Is Blindness, the U2 confessional, is reborn as a ravishingly ethereal lament. Caressed by the deftest of chording from guitarist Marvin Sewell and pianist Jason Moran, Wilson's voice hovers in mid-air like incense in a church. This ability to transform classic songs, often by way of a haunted blues minimalism, catapulted her to stardom on her 1993 album Blue Light 'Til Dawn; as the set unfolds she applies her alchemy to composers as diverse as Duke Ellington, Luiz Bonfa and Cyndi Lauper.

Wilson often flutters in the high register but plunges deep into a cavernous low range. The band changes tack accordingly, counterpointing with bashfully whispered notes or brash power chords. While the blues is prominent, there is also a sophisticated conversation ringing out between African rhythms, New Orleans backbeat-heavy funk and swing. And You Move Me is hypnotic, Bach-like soul, proving that Wilson stands on the jazz tradition on her own terms, as barefoot divas should.

· Until tomorrow. Box office: 020-7534 6955.