Keyboards Instruments Music : R&B Latino

R&B Latino

£8.49

  1. Tell Me How It Feels
  2. If You re Out There
  3. R&B Latino
  4. Use Me
  5. Another Star
  6. Walk With Me
  7. Freedom In The Frame
  8. No Sense
  9. Over You
  10. A Guarachar Con Alex

Alex Wilson won a newcomer prize at last year s BBC Jazz Awards and continues to progress in his career at an impressive rate. R&B Latino positions him even closer to the mainstream, with the opening track, Tell Me How It Feels, being indistinguishable from the type of female-led R&B one usually hears these days on Top of the Pops. The vocals are supplied by Maryanne Morgan, Mary Pearce, Noel Mckoy and Lauren Dalrymple, the last-named having been on Wilson s previous album. Wilson is not pretending for a moment that this is a jazz record, so it would be unfair to look for jazz in it. A parallel could be found in the old R&B funk of Tom Browne in the late 70s, although Browne tended to come up with melodies rather than ubiquitous vocal shapes. The rhythmic mix is powerful and drives on the top line successfully. The record would sound good on a dance floor and is probably already blaring out at a club near you. Contrary to the usual advice, you could try this at home. --Keith Shadwick

Wepa! - A corker! I love the way the rhythmic line manages to sound like R&B and salsa at the same time, without relying on the basic force of a reggaeton-type beat. As a British salsera who can t speak Spanish, I ve been hoping someone will come up with a way to play salsa in English, without it ending up like the usual cheesy salsa-romantica-pop covers - well, these R&B vocals work! Of course this album is a lot more than salsa, but the clave feel is there and if you are a dancer, it has the same effect on your feet and hips as any other top quality salsa track would. And Mary Pearce is as fabulous as ever- can t wait for Show Me Now to be released on an album...

A near perfect gem - I first heard of Alex Wilson via my salsa class. Use me- the old Bill Withers track often included in so called jazz compilations - is the most popular track and certainly has impact. Everyone but everyone dances to this.Whether it is jazz, r&b or just latino I think is irrevelant -it is well produced and the variety of tracks makes this one CD which nevers seems to fade. Just for the record I bought all his previous CDs plus his new one Aventuras on the basis of this.

Wow!!!! - I bought this CD on a whim after walking past the Jazz World stage on a bleary-eyed Sunday at Glastonbury and I m so glad I did. I d never heard of Alex Wilson before, I m not really a jazz connoisseur, but this album really isn t Jazz. Being the hip-hop head that I am, my usual listening preference is Bilal, Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild etc and whilst this is massively more commercial than any of that (check the Destiny s Child-esque number) it s generally a really cool, Summer-y album that uplifts you and makes you want to boogie. It s a fusion of R&B vocals and salsa-type beats and it s pretty damn cool. It s one of those obscure Cd s you put on at your party and by the third track evryone wants to know who the hell it is. Very cool. If you can catch this live, then all the better, cause these guys go off!!!!!




R&B Latino