While there are many solo piano recordings, unfortunately rare is the format of a pianist accompanying herself in voice. Brenda Earle Stokes re-lights that candle here, and it works well as she brings her own songbook to mix with a collection of covers.
Her touch on the ivories is rich and relaxed, with a voice filled with feeling as she floats on Jobim’s “If You Never Come To The Sea” and mixes vulnerable emotions with heat on Michael McDonald’s “I Can Let Go Now.” Both voice and fingers are wry on “The Consequences of Falling” and sly for Weaver Of Dreams”. She’s able to spin a dramatic tale during her own “Standing” but shows how to have fun on on the clever “Ladies In Mercedes”. Her digits are funky on “The Power of Love” and her scat chops prove strong in the buccinator department as she bops with the best for “East Of The Sun.” Brenda stokes forgotten fires; any West Coast gigs on the horizon?