Davell Crawford, piano, keyboards, and vocals; Mark Brooks, electric and acoustic basses; Shannon Powell, drums; special guests Thaddeus Richard, flute; and Henry Butler, piano
On the opening cut, "Fly Me to the Moon," Crawford's vocal phrasing is reminiscent of Little Jimmy Scott, but he cannot support this type of ballad; his vocals are raggedly thin and unsure. It does not get better. This is cocktail-lounge music which does not do justice to Crawford's considerable talents. Even Henry Butler's wonderful piano playing (the only good moment on this CD) could not rescue Crawford on "Detour Ahead," although he does some decent scatting on this one.
Crawford is a dynamic musician, as he proved on his CD The B-3 and Me (on the Bullseye label), which I highly recommended. Buy that one!
by Dorothy L. Hill