Irene Reid - The Uptown Lowdown (2000)

Irene Reid is a survivor, a voice from a golden age of jazz and blues singers. In the 1960s, she toured with Count Basie and recorded for Verve, then disappeared for decades, only to sound better than ever on a trio of CDs with organist Charles Earland before his death in late 1999. Like its predecessors, The Uptown Lowdown is relaxed, soulful, elemental music roots with elegance. Reid sings in a style at the early intersection of jazz and R&B, with a sweet and gritty voice that recalls Dinah Washington and Ruth Brown. She covers some of their songs here, but she gives them her own spin, swinging mightily with a phrasing as natural as speech. She draws with ease on wellsprings of feeling, from a secure plaintiveness to bawdy humor, adding her own depths to "Me and Mr. Jones" and infusing a gospel spirit into the contemporary R&B of Robert Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly." Earland builds potent grooves with drummer Greg Rockingham and blends his organ keyboards with two tenors and trumpet, creating a lush carpet of sound for Reid's rich voice. Eric Alexander contributes some booting tenor solos, and guitarist Bill Boris adds cutting, soulful blues. ~ Stuart Broomer

Personnel: Irene Reid (vocals); Eric Alexander, Mike Karn (tenor saxophone); James Rotondi (trumpet); Charles Earland (Hammond B3 organ); Bill Boris (guitar); Greg Rockingham (drums).