Kat Riggins sings with the emotional clarity of Gladys Knight, while the bands sounds like they took their Hendrix pills on this mix of metal and soul. The core team of Mike Zito/g, Matt Johnson/dr, Doug Byrkit/b and Lewis Stephens/key supply dark shades of metallica for Riggins as she belts out the trudging “Promised Land” and emotive “Warriors”. There’s an R&B feel the digs in for “Got to Be God” while she preaches from the pulpit on “40 25:40”. Six stringers Busta Free and Albert Castiglia join in for a party-time jam on”My City” while Melody Angel takes her guitar to Chicago for some tasty work on “Woahman”. Riggins is glorious as she shows her church roots on “Walk With Me Lord” and is defiant on the swampy “Walk On”. A voice with a heart on its sleeve.
Vicki Burns has a clear Broadwayish voice as she mixes standards with obscurities and originals with a core team of Art Hirahara/p, Sam Bevan/b, Billy Drummod/dr and guest horns Dayna Stephens/ts-bs, Josh Deutsch/tp, Mas Koga/fl-bs and Nick Vayenas/tb. She sounds confident with Deutsch on a tasty read of “Close Your Eyes” while swinging easy with the horns on “If You Never Fall In Love With Me/Del Sasser”. A hip take of “Out of this World” has her meld with Stephens” while she is expressive and confident in a duet with Hirahaea on Billy Strayhorn’s ‘Bittersweet”. She has fun with some medleys, sounding modal on “A Long Way/Equinox” and boogalooing to “Watch Out/Sidewinder”. Versatile virtuosity