Davell Crawford wore a variety of hats in the 1990s. While
The B-3 and Me presented him as a soul-jazz organist in the
Jimmy Smith/
Jack McDuff vein, he was a New Orleans-type R&B/gospel pianist and vocalist on
Let Them Talk. But on his equally decent third album, Love Like Yours and Mine,
Crawford's primary role is that of a jazz singer/pianist with strong gospel and R&B sensibilities.
Crawford's singing on
Let Them Talk inspired comparisons to
Fats Domino and
Professor Longhair -- here, he comes across as an interesting mixture of
Carmen McRae and
Stevie Wonder. That might be hard to imagine, but on standards like "Everything Must Change," "Who Can I Turn To" and "Fly Me to the Moon," that combination of influences seems quite logical. One of the high points of the CD, however, is an instrumental version of
Major Harris' "Love Won't Let Me Wait." While Harris and
Luther Vandross approached the song as a Northern soul ballad,
Crawford approaches it as a trio pianist and gives it a
Gene Harris meets
Ray Bryant type of ambiance. And he successfully changes
the Beatles' "Let It Be" from pop-rock to gospel-drenched R&B. With Love Like Yours and Mine,
Crawford's versatility continued to serve him well. ~ Alex Henderson