Gerald Albright - Live To Love (1997/2019)

Live to Love finds Gerald Albright returning to urban R&B, turning in an album of laid-back, polished soul and smooth jazz. Several vocalists, including Albright's daughter Selina, his longtime partner Will Downing, and the Whispers' Walter and Wallace Scott, contribute their skills to these well-crafted tracks. The vocal cuts form the core of Live to Love, making it more of interest to an urban audience than to fusion jazz fans, although there are a few instrumental interludes as well. However, the key thing distinguishing Live to Love is focus -- Albright hasn't had such a consistently engaging set of songs in years, and that's what makes the album such a pleasure for fans of his work.