Singer, trumpeter and Vermont native Jennifer Hartswick may forever be mentioned alongside her collaborators—Trey Anastasio, Umphrey’s McGee and Nikki Glaspie, among many others—but on her latest solo album, Nexus , she forcefully and majestically takes center stage. Hartswick has been shoulder to shoulder with legends for over 20 years; her soulful touch can be heard on Phish’s 1998 release The Story of the Ghost , and she became an anchor member of Anastasio’s solo band shortly thereafter. But on her solo efforts, Hartswick gives herself the freedom to explore genres and truly experiment. That openness, and her absolutely gorgeous voice, of course, help make Nexus a beautifully nuanced, transformative success. Hartswick loves to walk the tightrope between more traditional vocal jazz and the jamband home she found herself in. Take album opener “You Can’t Take It Back,” in which a guitar groove very quickly gives way to a tiptoeing vocal melody as delicate as a watercolor brushstroke. An ascendant, punchy bridge delivers on the promise of the first few seconds, and it becomes obvious that Hartswick is a master of more than one world. The singer later tackles the Rihanna megahit-ballad “Stay,” reshaping the original’s slick-but-emotional piano into a warm, front-porch jazz-guitar cut. It’s as imaginative as it is bold, an adaptation more than a cover. At just eight tracks, Nexus dances by too fast. It’s a shame, but there’s no shame in listening through again and again.