Having become a global sensation performing throughout the U.S. and over 20 countries since her emergence in the mid-2000s, pop/R&B influenced jazz singer is a truly visionary song interpreter who has earned comparisons to late legends Whitney Houston and Natalie Cole, been dubbed a “pop-soul superwoman” by the New York Times and hailed by The Japan Times as an artist who “holds the audience in the palm of her hand.”
On Time To Love Again, her first full-length album since Summer Sessions, an intimate vocal-guitar album with James Bryan, the singer - co-producing with artful eclecticism in mind with pianist, keyboardist and organist Pete Wallace - goes the big bold large ensemble route with a large rotating group of top Miami based musicians and vocalists. Proving once again she can rock, groove and swing all kinds of material from any artist or decade, especially transcendent when re-imagining female artists, Nicole Henry fashions a dynamics-rich, sometimes brassy and gospel tinged, sometimes high energy, often sensual journey.
Along the way, she takes us from a sultry blues, harmonica laced, scat-filled “Midnight at the Oasis” (Maria Muldaur) to a loosely arranged, sultry and atmospheric “…Is it A Crime?” (Sade) and uncovers fresh emotional treasures re-visiting classics by Nina Simone (“Wild is the Wind”), Buffy Saint-Marie (“Until It’s Time For You To Go,” given an intoxicating samba-esque twist by arranger David Cook) and a soaring, take us to church spin through Joan Armatrading’s “Love and Affection.” Her funky, tribal jam through another Simone-popularized classic “Feeling Good,” takes on a new poignancy with the recent passing of its co-writer Leslie Bricusse.
The male icons in Henry’s creative consciousness get stunning homages as well, as she tries a little tenderness with the usually faster paced James Taylor classic “Your Smiling Face” and wraps the glorious set with a buoyant, traditional jazz swirl though Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed” that will surely inspire some joyful dreaming on the listener’s part.
Listen to Time To Love Again here: https://open.spotify.com/album/5lFWqbLV5EG4qthImhlwV6
留言