Nnenna Freelon: Homefree

When you think back to some of the “greats” in jazz history, several of the superstars are women. Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Etta Jones—these women were, and still are, considered among the elite of the jazz world.

 

With her latest album, Homefree, Nnenna Freelon makes it clear that she’s well on her way to being regarded as in the same league as those old-school jazz queens.

 

Taken just at surface-level, Freelon has an aesthetically pleasing voice—it’s as smooth as silk, and it has a gorgeous warm tone to it. Listening deeper, one hears in Freelon the qualities that set her jazz predecessors in stone as stars.

 

When Freelon sings, she oozes the same class, confidence, and undeniable “cool factor” that characterized the leading ladies of jazz. At the same time, however, it never feels as though Freelon is trying to imitate those artists or be a throwback to an age gone by. Instead, it’s more as though she channeled the artists, and then used their inspiration to take a standard and make it her own...MORE

The Primary: Days Among Giants

When it comes to musical development, there’s a stage in the game where mixing up one’s style is a worthwhile risk, and stage where it’s not. If you are an established artist/band with a steady fan following, then a bit of change can be refreshing. If you’re just starting out, though? It’s probably best to avoid meshing styles until you’ve made it known exactly what you’re going for.

 

On their new album, Days Among Giants, Texas-based alternative band The Primary made the poor decision to try several different styles, and the result is an album that gives the impression that the band really hadn’t thought out what they wanted their sound to be.

 

Literally every song has a different style to it, from the Incubus-sounding “Get Out,” to the mellow yet heavy “Until Then,” to the psychedelic “The Trial of the Knave of Hear,” just to name a few...MORE

Brandy Lynn Confer: In the Dust

When an artist creates an album, there’s an important goal he or she has to achieve right off the bat: grabbing the listener’s attention. 

With her album In the Dust, Brandy Lynn Confer accomplishes this, but not really through any effort of her own. What catches the listener most is the striking similarity between Confer’s voice and Sheryl Crow’s. 

Confer’s voice has the same raspy, throaty quality as Crow’s, and even Confer’s tone and inflection very closely match the superstar’s. This is so evident on the first track, “Heartbreaker,” that it keeps you listening to find out if Confer’s voice really sounds that much like Crow’s, or if it just happens to be on that song....MORE

Sonya Kahn: New Beginning

It’s not often that I find myself at a loss for words, but when it comes to defining Sonya Kahn’s album New Beginning that seems to be the case.

 

There is plenty to be said about New Beginning, but as far as easily categorizing it? Almost impossible.

 

This album consists of songs that bring together 80’s-style pop-rock, classic Euro-pop, power ballads, and a sound that is suggestive of what ABBA would have sounded like were the group formed today. Despite these aspects being able to be picked out, though, none of them quite accurately describe Kahn’s music.

 

There are hints of all these styles, yet Kahn melds them into one style that is distinctly her own, and rather indefinable. To simply lump her into the genre of pop or pop-rock would be to do a grave injustice to Kahn.

 

There is a power and edge to Kahn’s music that isn’t often found with pop music, especially with female pop singers. There isn’t the slightest presence of auto-tune, just a voice that comes through the airwaves with a pure, inherent strength...MORE