Reggie Quinerly: Words to Love

Drummer and composer Reggie Quinerly puts the soul back into jazz as he uses his trio with Orrin Evans/p and Ben Wolfe/b to support the rich and sleek vocals of Milton Suggs and Melanie Charles, with Jaleel Shaw’s warm alto thrown in for good measure. Charles is upbeat and coy on the sweet “Until I Met You” while Quinerly does a Fred Astaire soft shoe along with Evans’ elegant piano as Charles clearly enunciates “Love’s Ferris Wheel” and is spacious on the dreamy “Scene.” Suggs’ earnest tenor voice gives hint of Donny Hathaway as he’s lost in meditation on “Still Frames” and displays a gorgeous vibrato as he teams with Shaw on “You Bring Out My Best.” The only thing missing is a duet between these two vocalists, but anytime you want more from a disc, you know you’ve heard something worthwhile. A real catch!

www.reggiequinerly.com

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