Modern Antique | 
 enlarge | Artist: Robin Mckelle
Label: CHEAP LULLABY
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $7.93
You Save: $6.05 (43%)
New (31) Used (13) from $3.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 21384
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 23
UPC: 875929002325
EAN: 0875929002325
ASIN: B001BJ6652
Release Date: August 19, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: SHIPS IMMEDIATELY
|
| Tracks:
| • | Abracadabra | | • | Comes Love | | • | I Want To Be Loved | | • | Lover Man | | • | Cheek To Cheek | | • | Day By Day | | • | Save Your Love For Me | | • | Go To Hell | | • | Lullaby Of Birdland | | • | Make Someone Happy | | • | Remember |
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Robin McKelle comes out swinging on her second disc
of big band jazz, Modern Antique. The bassist plucks
some fat, rich chords, the pianist skitters over the keys,
and McKelle herself confidently scats over the melody
while the horn section eggs her on. The mood is playfully
flirtatious, just this side of naughty. The entire
combo is having so much fun and so are you that
the tune is almost over before you realize it s an ingenious
re-arrangement of Steve Miller s seventies classic,
Abracadabra.
That opening gambit sets the tone for everything that
follows: The singer has created a stylistically ambitious
follow-up to her debut while still managing to evoke
and honor the forties big-band sound she explored on
the remarkable Introducing Robin McKelle. There are
more rhythm and blues touches, revealing McKelle s
torchy side, and she concludes the album with a self-penned ballad ( Remember ) that fits in
comfortably with the American Songbook gems that precede it. Modern Antique will impress
the ever-growing audience who ve already discovered McKelle -- via National Public Radio, her
glowing press notices, or good old word of mouth -- and it should attract the even wider audience
in the U.S. she clearly deserves.
Album Description
Jazz Performer Robin McKelle performs with her band: Alain Mallet - Piano, Peter Slavov - Bass and Jeremy Clemons - Drums. Her influences are Ella, Sarah, Frank Sinatra, Donny Hathaway, Chaka Khan,Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, Nancy Wilson, Stevie Wonder, George Duke, Herbie Hancock, Miles, Coltrane, Dianne Reeves, Nina Simone, Pat Metheny, Jaco, Ledisi, Jill Scott, and so on and so forth.... Sounds Like Robin has her own unique sound influenced by many different musicians in many different styles. Her soul infused alto voice is compared to jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald. Robin's fresh approach to the vintage sound of the american songbook have sparked audiences around the world.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
Modern Antique is the Jumbo Shrimp of Contemporary Classic December 29, 2008
It's old news that when it was released in 1982, Steve Miller's "Abracadabra", with the icy fire of his loud whisper, and the obvious innuendo of the lyrics created a mild sensation. Twenty six years later, Robin McKelle's jazzy remake is the only choice for leading off her interesting recording, Modern Antique. That catchy lead-off was really all I needed to want this recording, but on the whole, I find the entire CD exuberant and invigorating. Robin's sound is as attractive and flowing as the pretty pink dress in the liner notes, and her professional approach can be appreciated even in the absence of a single defining characteristic of her music. She's scats with enthusiasm, takes a pleading tone, mocking tone, or whatever each song calls for. She's multiple muses all in one. Seriously, she's efficient and accurate, and when singing the jazz standards that make up most of the rest of this recording, like Comes Love, Lullaby of Birdland, Lover Man, and Cheek to Cheek, that is really what demanded. It also helps that she has the equivalent of a big band supporting her, which keeps the excitement level high and the music robust and full throughout. I suppose Robin will never be accused of being a genuine imitation, even if she almost exactly duplicates some of the original copies of other singers that came before her. But that's why when other performers are found missing, Robin can act naturally and pull off a terribly pleasing piece of vocal jazz.
With Her It's The Fab Band! October 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It seems to me that with many of the talented 'standards' singers we have now, the songs are about only their voice or sometimes you're left thinking, "Didn't much care for the singing, but the band was very good." With Ms. McKelle who has an outstanding voice and wonderful excitment in her enterpretations, I say no either/or here! It's as close as we're going to get to those great Big Band moments that our grandparents were lucky enough to experience. On both of her CDs, Ms. McKelle shares the space with some outstanding musicians who make these tunes more than a great time. So, it's a two-fer, and a grand listening experience. Swing on!
 Another over-rated performance amidst a lot of hype October 21, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'm so tired of singers who possess a certain level of chops but seem incapable of connecting to the lyric that they're singing. It's tiresome. No matter how fine the musicians, arrangements, no matter how good a person looks, it doesn't matter if there's little actual connection to the music. Another disappointment.
 Simply Amazing August 31, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was wandering through a local bookstore the other day and heard this amazing music playing in the background. I immediately stopped in my tracks and asked the first employee that I saw who it was. I was directed towards the music section and was shown this CD of Robin McKelle.
I had never heard of this singer before, but after listening to just a couple of the tracks I was immediately hooked. I remember telling the sales clerk that the "vibe" I was getting was simply intoxicating.
If you're into vocal jazz or big band music, you will not be disappointed!
Jazz Times Review - August 2008! August 19, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Jazz Times, August 2008
She's a Berklee grad and a Thelonius Monk Vocal Jazz Competition
finalist. She often sounds a lot like Anita O'Day, except when she
sounds eerily like Nancy Wilson. She's blessed with O'Day's
indefatigable verve as well as her innate sense of swing, and echoes
Wilson's relaxed authority. Two years ago, she delivered a dynamite
debut disc, Introducing Robin McKelle, embracing a retro big-band vibe
with the ease and intelligence of a softer-edged Bette Midler. Now
she's back with a second big-band effort even better than the first.
Willie Murillo, who steered much of the previous album, again serves
as principal arranger. But Chris Barron, Gordon Goodwin, Randy
Waldman, pianist Alain Mallet and McKelle herself also contribute
arrangements; and remarkably, considering the number of cooks stirring
the pot, the results are not only consistently good but also
seamlessly consistent. For fans of gorgeous standards lovingly
nestled in ideal settings and sung with impeccable beauty and style,
Modern Antique is essential listening. But McKelle and company go a
few captivating steps further: first by transforming rocker Steve
Miller's '80s chart-toppet "Abracadabra" into three-and-a-half minutes
of pure, inventive jazz pleasure; then by doubling the strength of
the Nina Simone anthem "Go to Hell" by defusing its anger and
replacing it with assured wisdom; and, finally, by exiting on tiptoe
(just McKelle on vocals and piano, supported by a gentle wave of
strings) with the tenderly reflective, self-penned ballad "Remember."
|
|
|
