Vocalist
Kurt Elling and guitarist
Charlie Hunter reignite their funk, soul, and fusion-inspired partnership with 2023's
SuperBlue: The Iridescent Spree. A follow-up to 2021's
SuperBlue, the album finds the acclaimed jazz singer delving once again into a liquid funky blend of covers and originals with the aid of
Hunter and two
Butcher Brown bandmates, drummer
Corey Fonville and multi-instrumentalist
DJ Harrison. The album also arrives several months after
Elling and
Hunter whet fans' appetites with the EP
SuperBlue: Guilty Pleasures. With his rich baritone and lithe vocalese abilities,
Elling can pretty much sing anything in any kind of style. That said, he's primarily focused on acoustic jazz productions, and it's nice to hear him really stretch out in a more electric and electronic setting as he does here with
Hunter. As with the first
SuperBlue album, there's an organic quality to the work that balances the horn and keyboard energy of '70s
Stevie Wonder with the blue-toned, '80s sophistication of artists like
Sade.
Elling and
Hunter strike this balance throughout, kicking things off with a bold reinvention of
Joni Mitchell's "Black Crow" that brings out all of the song's inherent jazz harmonies and features a sparkling solo from flutist
Elena Pinderhughes. Equally engaging is their smoky, after-hours take on Canadian singer/songwriter
Ron Sexsmith's "Right About Now." There's also a bluesy reading of
Bob Dorough's Schoolhouse Rock classic "Naughty Number Nine" featuring Brooklyn's
Huntertones Horns. Particularly inventive is their take on
Ornette Coleman's classic ballad "Lonely Woman," reimagined here in psychedelic, trip-hop fashion replete with woozy wah-wah guitar and a clipped house groove as "Only the Lonely Woman." ~ Matt Collar
