The Soul Express Album of the Month
August 2002
BRENDA HILLMAN
PAPER BOAT
UK Expansion CD, 2002
1) It's Just You 2) Forever Will
Never Be Mine 3) Finding Mr. Valentine 4) I
Challenge You 5) Paper Boat 6) Can You Rescue
Just One 7) Loving Me 8) Don't Give Up on Me 9)
Love without Intermission 10) Best of Friends 11)
Rush to Nowhere 12) There's No Limitation to You
13) Silky Smooth 14) Can We Do It All Over Again
Produced by Brenda L. Hillman
Now here's a fine album that I seem to
like more and more with each play. At first, Brenda's
style sounds like a nice jazz-inclined variation
of Anita Baker's music -
including Brenda's vocal tone - but then you'll
soon realise that Brenda's own songwriting style
is not highly melodic and it also takes a while
to grow accustomed to her personal, jazzy
phrasing and intricate compositions. However,
after a few spins I started to enjoy Brenda's
mellow, jazz-inclined interpretations and
gradually the CD has become my favourite album of
this summer.
Brenda herself describes her music as an
assortment of fusioned jazz, R&B and Latin
flavoured tracks, but probably Steve
Hobbs' description in Blues & Soul
was more precise when he enthused that Brenda
delivers and astonishingly original album which
neatly fuses jazz with contemporary soul, and
that she sounds vocally somewhere between Jean
Carne and Anita Baker.
And indeed, despite the very familiar Baker-ish
overtones, Brenda certainly has her own, unique
style, and as a singer she seems to be at her
best when she gets a chance to start some
jazz-style improvisation.
This is best displayed on the fabulous
Finding Mr. Valentine, on which Brenda
delivers her full-blown vocals over a bass-y
mid-tempo groove with some Latin-tinged acoustic
piano soloing. At the end of the song Brenda
really is in her element while scatting over the
lively backing in an inspiring way.
Another great personal favourite on the album is
the track titled Love without Intermission,
which is a classic, timeless jazz-soul ballad
with Darryl Dixon colouring the
piano-based backing with some tasty saxophone.
This kind of tune would have been great for Phyllis
Hyman as well, as well as any
first-class female jazz vocalist.
More robust saxophone playing can be heard on the
conventional yet worthwhile soul-jazz ballad Best
of Friends, while the peacefully floating
title tune Paper Boat is spiced by Tony
Lyles' muted trumpet performance. The
beautifully floating I Challenge You is
one of the more memorable tunes on the album and
features some delicate acoustic guitar soloing.
The much used cliche "there's no bad track
on the whole album" also certainly applies
to this 14-tracker, too.
Another welcome newcomer and an essential
purchase for lovers of quality soul-jazz by
female vocalists.
(8) - IT
The album of
the Month in June-July 2002: Will Downing
The
album of the Month in May 2002: Kloud9
The
album of the Month in April 2002: Ledisi
The
album of the Month in March 2002: The
O'Jays
The
album of the Month in February 2002: Jill
Scott
The
album of the Month in January 2002: N'Dambi
Albums
of the Month in 2001
Albums
of the Month in 2000
Albums
of the Month in 1999
Albums
of the Month in 1998
Albums
of the Month in 1997
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