Sasha Dobson at Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 2

Sasha Dobson came from a household of established jazz musicians in Santa Cruz, California. Her father was a pianist, her mother was a singer, and her brother was a drummer, tenor saxophonist, and vibraphonist. The family performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1991 when Dobson was 12. Following her family's jazz muse, she became a scat singer. She moved to Brooklyn at 17 and quickly assimilated into the New York City's jazz scene. After her father died in 2001, she learned to play guitar and joined the local singer-songwriter community, with diminishing references to her jazz background. In 2008, Dobson, Nora Jones and Catherine Popper formed an alt-country trio that would come to be known as Puss N Boots. Dobson intends to release an EP under her own name this spring; her most recent recordings are 2014's Into the Trees EP and various releases with Puss N Boots.

Celebrating Rockwood Music Hall's month-long 15th anniversary celebration, Sasha Dobson returned to Stage 2, accompanied by Tony Scherr on bass and Kenny Wollesen on drums. Many in the audience may have been surprised to hear her return to her jazz roots. Unlike the more direct singer-songwriter approach of recent years or the bouncy swagger of her songs in Puss N Boots, this collection of songs was alternately moody, melancholy and mild. The pronounced backup by Scherr, who played his electric bass as if it was his guitar, and the easy sashay of Wollesen's percussion guided the songs far more than Dobson's guitar. This was not hybrid music; the take was vintage jazz from decades past, approaching a bit of the free-form era but eons before amplified fusion restructured modern jazz. Dobson's vocals were huskier than those of many cocktail lounge singers, and remained within a traditional range without sprinting skyward. The 40-minute set held its charm.