Introducing Robin McKelle

Robin McKelle | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 4, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cheap Lullaby Records
• ASIN: B000EWKLIA
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,262 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

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

Product Description

Introducing Robin McKelle by Robin McKelle

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A remarkable voice., July 9, 2007

By 

smoothjazz_views (Beverly Hills, CA and London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introducing Robin McKelle (Audio CD)

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.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FABULOUS!!! A voice made for this music., May 2, 2006

By 

Kaller (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introducing Robin McKelle (Audio CD)

Robin McKelle's debut album is a treasure. A solid first offering from a great talent. The production values and arrangement are true to the genre and yet appropriate to our time. Thank you, Robin. I look forward to many hours of enjoyment, and I cannot wait for your next offering. Authentic, yet fresh...

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Introducing Robin McKelle, May 26, 2006

By 

Lee Wilson (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Introducing Robin McKelle (Audio CD)

If you like jazz "torch" singers with a lot of feeling go for this one. But if you don't like current swing `40's big band and ballad type swing that is upbeat and uptone, pass. If, on the other hand, you like big brass jazz and have a soft spot for swing with a singer that exudes high passion and emotion (- the hair standing up kind -) this is the one for you. That's how she makes me feel and music is all about feeling.

On this album she's been aligned with Ella or Sarah, and she does have that feeling, but she has her own style if you listen.

If you want more on a quieter side but with raised passion in her voice and scat, look around for her first album "Never Let Me Go" from 1999. It's hot. Small group and huge sound, but 7 years between albums, ouch.

So Enjoy.
Lee
Clearwater, FL