Nelson Rangell Soul To Souls CD

Personnel: Nelson Rangell (vocals, flute, piccolo, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Alex Nekrasov (vocals, Fender Rhodes piano, keyboards, programming); Ross Martin (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Chuck Loeb (guitar); Joe Gamble (electric guitar); Earl Klugh, Bill Copper (nylon-string guitar); Vlad Girshevich (piano); Christian Teele (drums, percussion); Mirk Driven (drums).
Audio Mixer: Alex Nekrasov.
Recording information: B2 Studios, Los Angeles, CA; Bert Elliott Sound, Atlanta, GA; Christian's Place, Lafayette, CO; Chuck's House, Hilton Head Island, SC; Immersive Studios, Boulder, CO; Nelson's Basement, Littleton, CO; Relax Studios, Denver, CO.
Photographer: Galen Nathanson.
Arrangers: Alex Nekrasov; Kip Kuepper; Nelson Rangell.
The talented reedsman is joined by guitarist Earl Klugh on this set of sophisticated jazz, which includes versions of compositions by Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, and Dizzy Gillespie.
Pop-jazz reedsman Nelson Rangell returns with the amiable Soul to Souls, an album evenly split between familiar covers and originals. The standards, including "A Night in Tunisia," Earl Klugh's "Vonetta," and Joe Sample's "Free as the Wind," are mostly pleasant but uninspired; the exception is a lovely recasting of Stevie Wonder's "Send One Your Love" (from his underrated fusion experiment Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants) that features some of Rangell's most haunting and inspired flute playing. The originals blend R&B and pop influences into Rangell's mainstream, smooth aesthetic; as always, his playing is impeccable and the production is pristine, but there's little sense of new artistic ground being broken on Soul to Souls. At its best, the album is a recapitulation of Rangell's talents; at it's worst, it's treading water. ~ Stewart Mason