Be still. Listen. I received these two commands from my father more than any others. I guess I needed them repeatedly.

Two-time Grammy jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson’s latest album, “Another Country,” commanded me once again to be still, to listen. Wilson’s subtle contralto tones paired with Italian-born Fabrizio Sotti’s delicate guitar made me stop whatever I was doing and just soak in the lush unhurried lilt of lyrical melody. Not a bad way to spend a summer evening.

Labeled as jazz, Wilson comes from the M-Base movement that infuses blues, folk, country, pop and world music rhythms into what has become more of a music philosophy than a genre. After all, jazz has about three dozen subgenres, with some bearing little resemblance to each other.

M-Base sprung up in the 1980s to reject musical definitions and to include improvisation and structure, contemporary relevance, music as expression of life and use of nonwestern elements. Sounds like jazz to me.

It is no wonder that New Orleans gave birth to such music, spawned from Delta blues that drifted down the Mississippi, African and Caribbean rhythms that landed in Congo Square, and a gumbo of disparate and desperate street performers in Jackson Square today. In the heaviness of New Orleans summer air, you learn to be still, to listen. The music will transport you to any place and any time.

On the album’s final track, “Olomuroro,” written by Wilson, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts Chamber Choir sings a childlike background to Wilson’s solo about a Nigerian community.

Wilson and Sotti’s soft version of “O Sole Mio” allows you to languish on the Mediterranean with Cuban percussion undertones. The title track, “Another Country,” brings Bossa Nova sway and acoustic Spanish guitar virtuoso to lyrics of a romantic tryst.

The blues comes through in the stubbornly slow lament “No More Blues.” Sotti’s guitar solos on this track, in fact on all of the tracks, shares equal billing with Wilson’s vocals. Sotti’s influence and collaboration on the album command a strong presence without drowning out Wilson’s vocal talents. Instead, Sotti’s guitar currents allow Wilson’s voice to drift and soar with relaxed freedom. Voice and guitar perform more like a duet. But Sotti takes the solo role on the instrumental track “Deep Blue,” his original acoustic composition.

And, of course, there is the opening track, “Red Guitar,” released well ahead of the album, which immediately created a sensation. Written by Wilson, the song’s melody holds echoes of the traditional song “The Wayfaring Stranger.” Besides vocals, Wilson plays acoustic guitar while Sotti brings a perfect complement on electric guitar. While each seems to follow a different strand with equal singular clarity, they mesh harmoniously.

Erase labels and definitions printed on album covers and charts. Erase lines on a map. Close your eyes to reviews and blogs and blurbs. “Another Country” takes you wherever you want to be without getting on a plane or leaving your backyard. Just be still. Listen.

Emily Tuttle is a freelance writer living in Minot. Her e-mail address is [email protected].