The increasingly longer hiatus’s of Sade and Basia has left a big void for an audience that craves that smooth, urbane style of music that comes from a soul-jazz songstress, and Lindsey Webster has stepped in to fill that void. In a span of two years Webster has gone from a virtual unknown to being arguably the new queen of crossover jazz. And now, the reign extends with the impending release of A Woman Like Me.
That roll get started with a single “Fool Me Once.” That song reached #1 in 2016 on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Charts, a chart that had been topped by instrumentals for six straight years since Sade’s last release. Later in ’16 came Lindsey Webster’s first album for Shanachie Entertainment Back To Your Heart (2016), which spun off three more top three singles for that chart. And proving that she was no fluke, her 2018 follow-up Love Inside placed two more songs in the top ten.
This might sound a bit like being in the right place at the right time, but Webster’s talents merit her status. Starting with her voice, which is the soulfully sensual, smoky and unforced delivery that seduces with an earnest reading of the lyrics rather than hitting you on the head with over-the-top technique.
With the third album into her imperial period, we can now spot some big time session players on A Woman Like Me absent on prior records; imagine having a rhythm section like Nathan East (bass), Vinnie Colaiuta, (drums) and Luis Conte (percussion) on your album. While these guys might add a touch more polish to the overall musicianship — not that it was ever lacking — the winning formula remains, which is the production and songwriting team of Lindsey and her keyboardist and one-time husband, Keith Slattery.
Thus, there’s really nothing that’s going to set A Woman Like Me too far apart from two prior Shanachie records, which speaks more to her consistency and staying within her strengths, so Lindsey Webster fans will be quite pleased with it.
A song like “Feels Like Forever” validates why it was wise to stick with the formula. As is usual with a Webster song, it’s a melody with pop-catchiness and suffused with urbane jazz chords, played with real instruments and rich backing vocals (all done by Webster). All this paired with the timeless topic of romance means it’s a song that will never age.
Though Webster-Slattery often draws some cues from Bacharach-David, “Close To You” isn’t that Carpenters song but rather an attractive mid-tempo funky number that’s looks the part of another high-charting single, capped off by a George Benson-ish guitar solo by regular Webster guitar sideman Mike DeMicco. “Running Around” has that same kind of groove, but Tony DePauolo’s guitar has the bite of rock instead of jazz.
The production is so clean and, refreshingly, not cluttered. The backing track to a cut like “Only You” leaves plenty of breathing space for Webster’s singing and her lyrics, where the focus belongs. The instrumentation is peeled back even further on “One Step Forward,” (video above) by temporarily sidelining East and Conte, and though Slatterly’s piano aside won’t scare off Chick Corea, its delicate touch fits the easy-going groove of the song.
Other songs aren’t necessarily contemporary jazz per se, but close cousins to it, and Lindsey Webster’s got a great finesse of those styles as well. “Perspective” has a lusher, Quiet Storm sort of mood (as does “Rain”) and Webster’s vocal moans toward the end of the track smoothly hands off to Ken Gioffre’s saxophone. “Always Love Me” is a prototypical soul ballad tailor-made for slow dancin’.
But can Lindsey Webster do ballads? “A Woman Like Me” emphatically says ‘yes’; this is where her knack for delivering emotion in the right dose serves the song so well. In a bit of a surprise, East’s bass solo is paired with him scatting over it, though he’s done this before.
The album closes with the only non-original, the ubiquitous “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.” Personally, I would have preferred to hear her take on a Joni Mitchell or Carole King song, but Webster does treat this classic with due reverence.
Webster succeeds not by keeping up with current trends but instead through mastering the little time-honored things that latch people onto her music today and decades from now. This is why the roll Lindsey Webster got on in 2016 will continue with A Woman Like Me.
A Woman Like Me is slated for release on March 27, 2020.
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