I don’t know how one gets that indefinable thing called “IT”, but vocalist Lauren Henderson definitely is blessed with that intangible quality of making a lyric speak directly to you. The amazing fact about her is that she doesn’t communicate with displays of range or nimble chops; rather she seduces you with restraint.
Here, she teams up again with the symbiotic pianist Sullivan Fortner along with Eric Wheeler/b and Joe Dyson/dr as well as mixing and matching with guests Marquis Hill/tp, Paco Soto/g, Nick Tannura/eg, Saru Porrina/pec and Daniel J. Watts/voc. She has a bedroom eyes voice as the lyrics roll down the back of your neck like cool water on the misty take of “I Concentrate On You”, while she ecstatically holds back as if to tease you to come forward on the Latin laced “La Marejada”, both with Soto delivering flamenco string sketches. She uses an irresistible warble as she serenades with Soto on “The Sweetest Sounds” and lilts across the dance floor without shoes on “Musa”. Hill provides a muted noir frame for Henderson as she slides around Wheeler on a pastel teddy of “Forget Me” and is bluesy in soft jeans for “Leeward”. Singing in Spanish, she coos like a Latin Julie London as she slithers on “Corazon, No Loores” and saunters into the dimly lit room on the long shadowed ”Ahora”. Musical Oysters.
2 comments for “****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Lauren Henderson: Musa”