(Review by Steve T).
Saw her at the London Jazz Festival a couple of years ago and no doubt some Bebop Spoken Here readers will have seen her support Gregory Porter at Sage Gateshead the time before last.
She's great: charismatic, beautiful (her band-mates are handsome), good singer, good pianist, and her debut was solid, with a fine original in Novocaine Heart and a strong version of the War classic The World is a Ghetto, (though it isn't as good as either of their versions or Benson's definitive take on it), so her follow-up is a big disappointment.
The opening track is called Don't Need the Real Thing, but I think she'll find she does. The song sounds like Michael Jackson, while the next track - Breakdown - sounds like it should be by Adele, and another - Love Sucks - is a ringer for Amy Winehouse. Furthermore, her cover of First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, while a highlight of her live set, brings nothing to the classic Roberta Flack take.
Had it not featured a version of People Make the World go Round, it would have likely languished in my basket until her next northeast visit, but this isn't as good as Angela Bofill's Latin/jazz version of the late seventies or even the Stylistics' original.
Pieces of Me offers the only sign of redemption but it is hardly remarkable.
A female singer on Blue Note with an ear for soul should be a given for me, so I'm hoping this can be put down to the difficult second album and hope she realises it does need to be the real thing in time for her third.
Steve T.
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