Beneath the Skin

4-STARS There's a sign in the water.... Great lyrics, burning rhythms, such impact in the vocal it's all there.

Much more preferable to the earlier pre-album release single of US singer Nnenna Freelon's from Beneath the Skin which was a little too "trad" for my taste, this latest unveiling from the Cambridge, Massachusetts born jazz vocals icon is a keeper and rewards frequent replay.

More progressive "going fourth" the direction on 'Changed' a fine Freelon original is drawn from the upcoming Nick Phillips produced recording.

The piece features co-arranger pianist Alan Pasqua - known for his work with the Tony Williams Lifetime in the 1970s on Believe It and Million Dollar Legs - plus Judy Wexler drummer Steve Hass who kicks off the piece.

The bassist like a benevolent beacon beating heart is Jonathan Richards.

Recorded in a North Carolina studio last June 'Changed' contains a McCoy Tyner-esque vamp from Pasqua and the whole thing is mercifully mastered up so the sonics are boisterously in your face just as the vocal does not hold back. Her soul, as the lyrics put it, is the mirror.