|
Introducing Robin McKelle | 
 enlarge | Artist: Robin Mckelle
Label: Cheap Lullaby
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $7.65
You Save: $6.33 (45%)
New (30) Used (16) from $4.33
Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 82577
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 10
UPC: 875929001021
EAN: 0875929001021
ASIN: B000EWKLIA
Publication Date: 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Tracks:
| • | Something's Gotta Give | | • | Bei Mir Bist Du Schon | | • | Night & Day | | • | For All We Know | | • | You Brought A New Kind Of Love | | • | Dream | | • | Yes, My Darling Daughter | | • | Deep In A Dream | | • | I've Got The World On A String | | • | Come Rain Or Come Shine | | • | The Lamp Is Low | | • | On The Sunny Side Of The Street |
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
12-track CD on Cheap Lullaby Records, 2006. Tracks are: Something's Gotta Give/Bei Mir Bist Du Shon/Night & Day/For All We Know/You Brought A New Kind Of Love/Dream/Yes, My Darling Daughter/Deep In A Dream/I've Got The World On A String/Come Rain Or Come Shine/The Lamp Is Low/On The Sunny Side Of The Street
Amazon.com
Robin McKelle is being promoted as a '40s-style jazz singer, but though she does pluck tunes from the era on this enjoyable debut, her full-frontal approach is steeped in the brassy big band sounds of the late '50s and early '60s. A bicoastal stylist who draws equally from the lilting jazz purity of Ella Fitzgerald and the pop pizzazz of Barbra Streisand, she is a refreshing departure from all those female jazz singers currently vying for attention with coy understatement or an overreliance on technique. Introducing Robin McKelle was produced by Willie Murillo, previously an arranger for Brian Setzer and Aimee Mann, who is responsible for an unlikely arrangement of "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" that morphs from moody chamber piece into full-fledged Latin treatment. The album's other highlights include a lovely, understated rendition of "For All We Know," a winning duet with Robbie Wycoff on Sammy Fain's "You Brought a New Kind of Love," and a slam-bang treatment of "Come Rain or Come Shine." Throughout, McKelle luxuriates in her love of the music without overdoing the nostalgia. A third-place finisher in the 2004 Thelonious Monk Vocal Jazz Competition, she scores here by avoiding predictability without trying to. --Lloyd Sachs
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 Not impressed May 6, 2008
Song selections are ok but she seems to be yelling when singing uptempo tunes. Listen carefully and compare with Jane Monheit or Stacey Kent, for example.
 A remarkable voice. July 9, 2007
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
INTRODUCING, Robin McKelle's debut album, is already a best seller in the USA and Europe. Critics compare her voice to Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald.
Produced by Willie Murillo (Brian Setzer Orchestra producer, Aimee Mann, LeAnn Rimes) the album announces the arrival of a song interpreter without equal. Be prepared. It's a remarkable voice; a soul-infused alto tinged with haunting echoes of the postwar jazz greats and now its possessor has inched closer to her inevitable destiny in the spotlight.
It's rare to find a vocalist mining the Forties big band seam who really makes you sit up and take notice. New Yorker McKelle has a rich alto, packed with sass and phrasing reminiscent of Sarah Vaughan: she's the real deal.
'The Forties: I was born to be in that time, I swear...' is singer Robin McKelle's comment on the nostalgic atmosphere that permeates her debut recording, and there are indeed numerous musical reminders of the swing-band singer's heyday throughout this immediately appealing album.
McKelle's voice is most obviously inspired by Ella Fitzgerald: first and foremost, what you hear is the song, impeccably presented, faultlessly sung, occasionally tastefully embellished, but never over-interpreted or used merely as a springboard either for vocal gymnastics or the display of personal emotion.
This is not to suggest that McKelle is not affecting her strings-backed 'For All We Know', for instance, is suitably touching but simply that her clear priority is to showcase what she calls 'these wonderful love stories between men and women'.
Versatile enough to infuse the likes of 'Bei Mir Bist Du Schon' or 'I've Got the World on a String' with appropriate pep, float tastefully over the Basie-like chug of, say, 'The Lamp is Low', or go for broke on the album's opener, 'Something's Gotta Give', McKelle does a great job of setting out her stall on Introducing...; refreshingly free from the apparently obligatory contemporary 'classic' and concentrating entirely on the standard's golden age, this album is unashamedly directed at those who like their classic songs respectfully addressed, their settings punchy but unshowily informal.
 Great 40's voice May 12, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
She sounds great singing songs of this era but the sound mix guy messed up and let the instruments overpower the vocals.
 Ol' Black Magic May 10, 2007
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
There is plenty of magic, black or otherwise when Robin McKelle sings. Her voice is deep and smoky much like Keely Smith, but with just a bit more animation. If you need to decompress just let the music flow over you or crank the volume and dance around the house, but to really enjoy the flavors and nuance you have to turn out the lights, put out some candles or light a fire and let Robin sing you to another place and time. She can take you back to the days of swing and make you look over your shoulder to see if the cops are coming or transport you to Times Square when it wasn't on the square. Robin makes all of this time traveling easy with a smooth turn of phrase and a soft rendering of standards that makes them anything but old.
Anyone can sing standards, that's why they are standards, but to weave moonlight and magic it takes style and skill. No easy task for an old timer but for a spring chick? Easy if you are Robin McKelle.
If you are thinking of buying a CD then do the right thing, skip the A's, skip through to M and when you do open it before you get in the car, there's a CD player in there and if you drive slow and leave the window open somebody might hear and thank you.
Ella would be proud... January 22, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Hey Robin is young and she has got it! Her voice is ageless and I can't wait to see wht else she comes out with down the line. It's not easy living up to legends and she does just fine. My favorite tracks so far...Night and Day...I've Got the World on a String. The arrangements and orchestrations are enthusiastic. Buy the CD and enjoy her silky voice. Don't listen to me or anyone else. Listen for yourself.
|
|
|
|
