Pamela Rose: You Could have It All

Pamela Rose has a great voice, good range and phrasing , on the mark intonation recalling Nancy Wilson. It also drips with soul and funk; no sweet sounding lady she. One might, however, question the arrangements. Too many of the tunes are accompanied by the incessant, never varying back beat of Bryant Mills' drums such as on "The One That Got Away" and "This Love Is Gonna Do Me in". All of the tunes are written by Rose in collaboration with a variety of other writers. While none of them are likely to become entries in the Great American songbook, the lyrics tell some compelling tales of the vicissitudes of love and romance in this day and age. And they are anything but sugary sweet. The melodies have a certain similarity about them. But they would have been a lot more welcome if it wasn't for that ceaseless back beat. Rose shows her soul on "She's Not Dressed up for You" framed by Tony Stead's B3 and the honking tenor of Jeff Erwin, making this a track of the first order. "Wake Up" is a rousing winner, with the horn section and the organ swinging steadily in support of Rose. Recognizing that the back beat is deemed by the so-called, self-appointed jazz musicologists to be a critical element of the soul jazz style, the presence of the Hammond organ here makes the drums unnecessary. This session could have done quite well without them. Even with the occasional disagreeable drum rhythm, this still is a quite decent album. Without it, the CD would be upgraded several notches to way beyond decent for these ears. Lyrics are printed in the liner notes. Visit Pamela on her web site at www.pamelarose.com.