Behind the Voice

We're not really fans of albums with more than one or two singers present so approached Behind The Voice, which has 5 featured singers plus vocodered effects from the leader the fine ex-Betty Carter drummer Clarence Penn, with a certain amount of caution. Recorded over a period of two years at a Brooklyn studio we expected the best vocal choice to come from Kurt Elling who is on a cover of Peter Gabriel's 'Come Talk to Me.'

Of course, given how reliably effective Elling always proves, this works. But the tracks we liked most are actually by Japanese jazzer Toku singing Levon Helm's 'Growing Trade' and Aaron Marcellus' role, especially on Phil Collins song 'Why Can't It Wait Til Morning'. There are lots of shifting personnel combinations on the record themed around pop singer-drummers and firmly rooted in the 1980s. But of all the stellar players listed on the album it's keys player Shedrick Mitchell's presence and that of bass great James Genus' that counts most at the heart of the groove.