Lesette Wilson - Livin' In The Zone (2008)

If this keyboard artist's nearly 20-year-old debut, Now That I've Got Your Attention, qualifies her as a jazz/funk pioneer, Livin' in the Zone certifies the legacy with an edgy brand of hard-driving contemporary urban jazz music. The instrumental tracks here pick up from the time of the aforementioned record as if the low-keyed smooth-jazz revolution in between had never happened. Underscoring the point are two hot covers, Stevie Wonder's frenzied street-opera "Too High," and Frankie Beverly & Maze's soulful cooker "Before I Let Go," as well as the smoking Patrice Rushen tribute, "Piece of Patrice." Wilson doesn't hold back her aggressive rhythmic style as a composer and particularly as a soloist, which run counter to smooth-jazz radio sensibilities, but clearly focuses her aim at open-minded contemporary jazz lovers and city audiences that have popularized the current '70s-based jazz/funk dance-club scene. The three vocal selections all have solid roots in a 21st-century styled fusion of R&B and hip-hop. Shelene Thomas sings two Erykah Badu/Jill Scott influenced songs, while the dynamic vocalist J. Phoenix soars on the poignant ballad "One," invoking Jeffery Osborne throughout the track. --Mark Ruffin