Over a decade-long career, crossover jazz artist Kim Waters had built a comfortable, quiet storm and R&B covers niche when his thirteenth album From the Heart hit stores on April 10, 2011.
Waters’s saxophone skills had paid tribute to Boyz II Men, Maxwell, and Anita Baker on his previous albums. However, for From the Heart, Waters took it back to the seventies with an elegant cover of The Spinners’ hit “Love Don’t Love Nobody.” While Waters’s musicianship alone could have done the song justice, the sax man brought in Jazz from Dru Hill for the vocals.
Arguably, the best singer in the Baltimore-based group, Jazz never tries to imitate Phillipe Wynn, the song’s original singer. Instead, Jazz makes the song his own and allows the listener to feel his emotions as he croons:
“Sometimes a girl will come and go
You reach for love, but life won’t let ya know
That in the end, you’ll still be lovin’ her
But then she’s gone, you’re all alone”.
Waters and Jazz’s chemistry comes across so natural if Jazz ever had the chance to have his solo career, I would have loved to see Waters as his musical director on tour. My only complaint about the song is that we do not get a chance to hear the song’s spoken word.
Final Grade: A
“Love Don’t Love Nobody” from From the Heart is available on all streaming platforms.
One of the great things about buying a soundtrack when I was in my DJ prime was discovering a slow jam that I could put on my mix CDs. For this week’s Slow Jam Saturday, I wanted to highlight one of the songs: Jagged Edge’s cover of Air Supply’s, “All Out of Love.”
After twenty-six years in the game, Atlanta-based quartet Jagged Edge is currently on the road celebrating the anniversary of their magnum opus sophomore album, “J.E. Heartbreak,” with a tour titled “An Intimate Evening With Jagged Edge.” To kick off our seventh wedding anniversary celebration, my wife and I will be the D.C. date on the tour this coming Wednesday.
For this week’s Second Listen Sunday, I wanted to travel back to 1999 and show some love to R&B group Amyth, which was initially signed to LL Cool J Rock the Bells Records. Hailing from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the group was formed in 1995 while the members were students at Southern University.