Ok, I’ll admit that this lady skunked me. Jocelyn Michelle puts herself on the cover of this album posed as a real boy toy vocalist. Yes, she does sing on a couple songs (which are disarmingly joyful and even soulful as on the gospel-tinged “The Loss”), but what you really get for your money is a Hammond B3 of a honey. WHEW!
She teams up with a rotating guitars of John Rack and Bruce Forman as well as the warm tenors of Steve Mann and Doug Webb, and Stan Martin’s or Andrea Lindborg’s trumpets while Samy K and Brad Dutz supply the percussion and drum work. You feel like you’re at a vintage Jimmy Smith Blue Note session as the horns sound hip and hipper on “Englewood Cliffs” and a deeply grooved “Pink Panther Theme.” Michelle pulls the plugs on the riveting “Last Tango In Paris” and lets Forman shoot the tube on “Sunnier Days” and “Oh No, I Could Be In Love” along with Gina Saputo’s charming cameo on vocals. Michelle blows late night smoke rings on the dreamy read of “Never Let Me Go” and plays both Hammond and piano on the closer testifying “The Loss.” This lady is a vamp!