Search - Robin Mckelle :: Introducing Robin McKelle

Introducing Robin McKelle

Lee Wilson | Florida, USA | 05/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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"

A remarkable voice.

smoothjazz_views | Beverly Hills, CA | 07/09/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."

FABULOUS!!! A voice made for this music.

Kaller | Portland, Oregon | 05/02/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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..."