Kevin now
has three solo albums under his belt: the self-produced solo debut, Timetable
(2002); the George Duke-produced, One Life To Love (2008); and the new
self-produced, I Live For You (2016). Although Kevin eschews any effort to
force him into a category or genre’, he freely admits to defining himself as
“primarily a jazz vocalist who just happens to be a Christian”. He exhorts, “I
hope I never agree to be just one thing. A true artist never wants that. I have
been-and will remain-free to explore the musical universe. There’s too much out
here to stay locked into one soundscape forever. Music is big, but Jesus is
infinitely bigger. I want to touch his face with everything he puts in my heart
to do. I hope people find my new record, I Live For You, refreshing, and dare I
say it, groundbreaking.” Includes: Pretty Bird; Somebody Somewhere;Take A Stand
(Introducing, CRISIS); I Live For You; Come Back Home; Somebody Said; Strong
(For my sister, Charlisa); Truly Unconditional (Introducing, Daphne Delva Smith);
and Take A Stand (reprise).
Great compositions, reworked – in a very cool project that
takes older recordings from the Decca catalog of classical music, and puts them
in the hands of 21st Century producers! The sound is surprisingly great – no
dancefloor remixes of Beethoven's 5th, and instead these really thoughtful
pieces that extrapolate the original songs in beautiful ways – often mixing
their acoustic core with some slight electric elements – in ways that remind us
a lot of recent material from Max Richter. The package is clearly done with an
ear towards Richter's work – and is similar to projects like this that have
been done with the Deutsche Grammophon catalog – and our only complaint is that
the notes don't give any information about the original sources of the
performances. That's only a very minor issue, though – and the music is more
than enough, as you'll hear on Grieg's "Peer Gynt" remixed by Solmon
Grey, Erik Satie's "Gnossienne No 1" remixed by STarkey, Faure's
"Requiem" remixed by Faultline, Steve Reich's "Six Pianos"
remixed by Mr Scruff, Debussy's "String Quartet" remixed by Henrik
Schwarz, Holst's "The Planets (Neptune)" remixed by Thomas Gandey,
and Schubert's "Schwanengesang" remixed by Kate Simko. ~ Dusty Groove.
GABY
HERNANDEZ – SPIRIT REFLECTION
A fantastic
record from Gaby Hernandez – a singer we've loved for previous collaborations
with Build An Ark and Life Force Trio – but who really knocks it out of the
park with this double-length set! The presentation is a bit unusual – in that
the entire album is presented with vocal versions of the songs, then a second
instrumental take on the tracks – the latter a great showcase for the album's
many collaborators – a heavy-duty lineup that features Kamasi Washington,
Carlos Nino, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Dexter Story, and the Contact Field
Orchestra! Gaby's vocals really sine in all this great company – and the
musicians have ways to deepen the spirit of her songs, and take things in
places that still make us love the music, even after her voice has dropped out.
Titles include "Spirit Reflection", "Into Yoa", "Super
Nova Lovers", "Baobab Tree", "Messy Love", "Los
Mas Dulce", "Stay A While", and "Entranced". (Includes
download!) ~ Dusty Groove
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