Kevin Mahogany: Pride & Joy

Kevin Mahogany seems to have been focusing on very specific themes for his last three albums. My Romance dealt strictly with love songs and Pussy Cat Dues was dedicated to the music of Charles Mingus. Now for his first album for Telarc, the singer takes his rich baritone voice to the land of Motown's sophisticated R & B, honing in on a play list that recalls that style's heyday of the 1960's and 1970's, adding a jazz inflection to the music. The scene is set with Mahogany joined by a quartet of singers for A Capella rendition of Stevie Wonder's classic "Signed, Sealed,.Delivered I'm Yours" with Mahogany engaging in considerable wordless vocalizing. More A Capella comes with an enthusiastic, but somewhat lurching and overly busy, "Reach Out I'll Be There". Sometimes simple is better, especially when the singer has such a powerful, passionate voice like Mahogany's. The swinging, up beat offering of Marvin Gaye's "Pride and Joy", where the singer is backed by a strong quintet of instrumentalists led by Jon Faddis, is closer to the Motown most of us are likely to remember. Other Motown legends who are remembered on this mostly entertaining CD are Smokey Robinson, Barrett Strong and Jim Weatherly. Weatherly's lovely ballad "Neither One of Us (Wants to be the First to Say Goodbye)", is one of the more engrossing tracks on the album with the fine Dave Stryker guitar providing the main support. Mahogany's voice is in fine fettle on this disc, which is recommended. Visit Mahogany at www.jazzsinger.com .

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