Charene Dawn, a singer originally from Chicago, made her debut as a leader on this CD. Her deep, heavy, and haunting voice is particularly effective on ballads and she is versatile enough to sound comfortable on modal material too. The much-missed
Bob Berg takes several fiery tenor and soprano solos while pianist
Henry Hey is a bit reminiscent in spots of
McCoy Tyner. With a fine rhythm section plus vibraphonist
Joe Locke, the singer sounds inspired throughout, including performing duets with
Locke and bassist
Avishai Cohen. The material includes pop tunes from
Minnie Riperton and
Phoebe Snow plus a few jazz standards and
Dawn's "Here and Now" (which sounds very similar to an
Abbey Lincoln song).
Charene Dawn's voice is appealing and she displays great potential for the future.