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Davell Crawford

LOVE LIKE YOURS AND MINE

Bullseye Blues - 9606
available as mp3s on Rhapsody
regular format available on
CD Universe

This is a side of Davell Crawford I have never heard before.  On display here is not his usual R & B energy that is steeped in the church, but  a more subdued and private segment.  It is a softer, quieter, more romantic jazzy side, and as a surprise to me I liked it.  He becomes a crooner here almost in the mode of a Sarah Vaughan or Billy Holiday mixed with a Sam Cooke or a Brook Benton.  His keyboard playing is not downplayed here, it just takes on different textures that all happen to be in a more refined and restrained expression.  His singing here is the wonder.  It uses the flavor and passion of his R & B and gospel roots but he modulates it to fit into the moods of these songs.  He uses a very traditional jazz trio for the most part to display this side of himself.  He uses it to great advantage to display the prodigious talents that he has.  What is most on exhibit here is his voice.  The keyboard playing is superb, but as I leave the disc I always retain the vocal images of the songs.  It is a voice that lends itself to this type of song and seems to have an androgyny that adds to the flavor of the song.  When I first put on FLY ME TO THE MOON, I had to stop and look in the credits to see who was doing the singing, I was not sure as to the gender of the voice.  It had a quality that was not evident on the other things of his I had heard.  This disc has let him display facets of all of his musical experiences that were not evident before, he uses his gospel upbringing to communicate his passion but this time in a much more subtle fashion.  This is definitely a disc that is mood music and worth a long listen.

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