Robin McKelle's previous recordings featured a big band, with her vocal stylings leaning on the pop side of jazz. While effective to a degree, she sounds similar in this setting, where this band is stripped down, a small horn section remains and electric keyboards still give the music a retro feel. Her tune choices are all over the map, copping soul and pop tunes with a funky underpinning, rarely swinging although occasionally shuffling, and featuring
McKelle's coarse, gritty, at times supple, sophisticated voice. Her accompanying musicians are cream-of-the-crop up-and-comers, including keyboardist
Xavier Davis, bassist Tim Lefevbre, saxophonists
Mark Gross and
Alex Harding, as well as two appearances by veteran
Houston Person. Inspired by
Ray Charles, the title track takes on a boogaloo facade with Wurlitzer organ, but a similar beat is thrust into
Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows." Better suited for ballads as "Cry Me a River,"
McKelle does have that blue-eyed soul thing going on, but it's the amalgam of
the Beatles meeting
James Brown through "The Girl from Ipanema" during her version of "Eleanor Rigby" that shows where
McKelle is really coming from. A credible effort if not somewhat been there/done that by others, it's to
Robin McKelle's plus side that she is seeking new vibes out of something created in her old soul. ~ Michael G. Nastos