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Robin
McKelle - Introducing Robin McKelle (Cheap Lullaby)
Killing time on a Saturday Afternoon at FYE, while everyone else is shopping somewhere else in the mall. The conversation in the car went something like this: "You bought an album?" "Yes." (Unwrapping the disc.) "Is it good?" "I don't know." "You didn't listen to it first?" "Nope." (Inserts CD into player.) "Hey. This is good!" Yes, it is. Serendipity on a Saturday strikes again. This isn't just good - it is very good. A little Googling here and there turns up Ms. McKelle's biography: "Robin graduated from Berklee college of Music in Boston and currently teaches there part time. She is a 'National Foundation for the Arts' award recipient in the jazz vocal category. In 2004, Robin won third place in the International Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocal Competition. Robin has appeared and/or recorded with the following artists: Herbie Hancock, John Secada, Tavares (brief tour to Africa in '99), Bebe Winans, Darren Hayes from Savage Garden, Don Grusin." In an All About Jazz interview, Ms. McKelle calls this a concept album, and the interview goes on to detail how she and the record company footed the bill for something larger than the seven-piece band she normally performs with - in order to get that big band sound. And while I'll go hunting for her other recorded efforts, I'll say now that the big band was money well spent. There's not a clunker on the disc. I was staring at the CD player eight bars into "Something's Got To Give," I was smiling all through "Bei Mir Bist Du Schon," and laughing through "Yes, My Darling Daughter." Producer/Trumpeter Willie Murillo gets lots of credit for keeping things swinging. Swinging, sultry - the band adds much, but Ms. McKelle's voice, with good range and a fabulous sense of phrasing carries the show. Highest recommendation. Sorry Sophie, you've been knocked out of heavy rotation. The 'pod has a new number one.
- Doug Boynton |
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