Reviews
November 22, 2010
Paula Prophet – From Me To You – Denis Poole, ~SmoothJazzTherapy.com
“I first became acquainted with the music of Paula Prophet through her guest appearance on Bradley Leighton’s excellent 2007 release ‘Soul Collective’. Now this twenty year singing veteran, who has a style that has drawn comparisons with the likes of Randy Crawford, Chaka Kahn, Sade and Sarah Vaughn, is all set to step centre-stage. Her debut solo recording, ‘From Me To You’, will be released on the Pacific Coast Jazz label in January 2011 and if the current buzz surrounding its early digital distribution is anything to go by, Paula may well have an international smash on her hands.
‘From Me To You’ is an ultra classy collection of six all original songs that clearly places quality ahead of quantity. Indeed whereas lesser artists may have been tempted to pad the content with covers or lesser tunes, the way Paula has remained focussed on her own immaculate compositions is highly commendable. Regardless of if the classification should be CD or EP, the approach is reminiscent to that employed in the early days of contemporary jazz when recordings such as the Bob James – Earl Klugh masterpiece ‘One On One’ regularly comprised less than ten tracks yet still attained classic status.
Talking of classics, at least those in the making, the sultry title cut shimmers with Prophet’s mellifluous vocals and is added to by some wonderful muted trumpet from Mitch Manker. Already picked up by internet Deejay James Lewis, the song recently attained #7 on his UK Soul Chart but truth to tell it is but one great rendition on an album crammed full of them.
The easy grooving ‘Only You’ is another smoothly soulful number that might just grow on you and although an urgent vibe and compelling vocals are major attributes of the Latin tinged ‘Show Me’ the way Paula closes out the CD with the soulfully tender ‘Little Bird’ is extremely impressive.
In terms of personal favourites the mid tempo groove of ‘Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me’ is right up there whilst just as good is the superb ‘That Man’ for which Paula generates a distinctly 5th Dimension like sound. The track was originally featured on the aforementioned Bradley Leighton CD ‘Soul Collective’ where it showcased Tom Scott on sax. Here the playing of John Rekevics matches Scott note for note and is just one more reason why ‘From Me To You’ is a collection not to be missed.”
December 30, 2010
Paula Prophet – From Me To You 3/3 – Oscar Groomes, ~O’s Place Jazz
O’s Notes: “Paula gives us a dose of soulful contemporary ballads, six selections on From Me To You. Although the native Chicagoan has been singing for many years, this is her debut recording with all original compositions. She gets a lot of support particularly from multi-instrumentalists Allan Phillips and Marti Armado. Among the best is “Only You” as Prophet is off to a good start.”