There aren’t a lot of jazz vocalists like Nicole Henry around anymore. Not one to use drama or gratuitous dynamics, her comfort zone is soulful and soft moods, letting her voice’s tone do all the work, and it works well.
She’s teamed up with a core support system of Pete Wallace/p, Eric England/b, David Chiverton/dr, Aaron Lebos/g, and occasionally bringing in keyboards, percussion and horns for an extra dry rub of BBQ flavor, as on the percolating “Feeling Good” and smoky take of Joan Armatrading’s “Love and Affection”. She’s smooth as Indian silk with Mohn Michalak on James Taylor’s “Your Smiling Face” and carries the torch dimly lit with Jean Caze on flugelhorn for “Until It’s Time For You To Go”. England gives a rich bass pulse into for the misty and tasty “Is It A Crime” and reclines around Wallace’s piano for “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was”. Grade B honey of sounds, which is the darker and richer of the two varieties.