Close to You

Australian-born and New York-based Nicki Parrott is a double threat: She can play the bass very competently, and has a singing voice that shares the relaxed sexiness of Julie London and the coquettishness of Blossom Dearie. She has performed and recorded with the legendary guitarist Les Paul, pianist Rachel Z and her sister Lisa Parrott. For this collection of Burt Bacharach songs, Nicki is supported by John Di Martino on piano, Paul Meyers on guitar, Harry Allen on tenor sax, and Alvin Atkinson on drums.

Accomplished piano vocalist, Katrina Harris has extensive experience performing around the world at five star venues for weddings, special events, and sophisticated gatherings. A Master of Music graduate from Sydney University, Katrina is in demand as a piano and vocal teacher, having taught privately and within schools for over 20 years. When she's not performing or teaching, you will find Katrina in her home studio, composing, arranging and recording original music.

Just reading the track list will likely make the more cynical jazz fan cringe and moan inwardly. Aside from a trio of originals, the set list of Close to You consists of overly familiar ballad standards ranging from Duke Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood" to the Beatles' "And I Love Her" and Burt Bacharach's legendarily sappy title track. Never fear, however: this is not an album of boring supper-club faux jazz…

Much like the self-titled debut from Luther Vandross's first group Luther, This Close to You is a respectable if somewhat anodyne slab of pre-disco soul. To be sure, This Close to You is a fine album, but it lacks many of the standout numbers of Luther and leans far too heavily on ballads and mid tempo grooves that aren't funky enough to dance to or slow enough to romance to. While this may seem ironic given Vandross's future reputation as a chart-demolishing balladeer, it results in This Close to You having a bit of an overpolished feel. Kicking off strong with a bombastic strings-and-all showcase for Vandross's voice ("This Is For Real"), the record soon begins to feel a bit repetitive without any of the chunky funk of Luther numbers like "Funky Music (Is A Part of Me)" or "Emotion Eyes" to provide contrast and dynamics. Of course, the performances here are top-notch. Whether the background vocals of the other singers in Luther (who get a bit more mic time here than they did on Luther) or the studio pros like Nile Rodgers, Cornell Dupree, Dennis Davis, and Nathaniel Adderley Jr. (who would go on to be Vandross's music director throughout the rest of his career), every musician here is operating a standard befitting a singer as strong as Vandross. Unfortunately, the material itself isn't quite as robust, and while it's not nearly as bad as its reputation would make it seem (after all, Vandross bought the rights to the Luther albums and kept them from being reissued while he was alive), it's definitely the more unremarkable of the two albums the group released. © Jason Ferguson