Jessy J, contemporary jazz saxophonist, is set to release her second album entitled True Love in August. Her debut, Tequila Moon, won her accolades and a gig opening for Michael Bolton.
True Love with the promising “Tropical Rain” is a mix of Latin keyboard, flute and Jessy J’s easy saxophone playing make for a smooth, breezy mix of jazz. When she combines Latin and samba elements into her songs it is almost always with successful results.
“Morning Carnival” exemplifies what happens when Jessy J uses vocals and a range of instruments. The song is varied, interesting and definitely one of the better ones to be found on the album. “Jessy’s Blues” is another. Unfortunately she sometimes goes away from this and when she does, the songs lose their sense of direction.
Jessy J’s sax solos can get a bit steamy sounding…too steamy. The appropriately titled “Forever” has some shades of Cinemax After Dark to it. “Forever” and “Somewhere in a Dream” are basically sax and percussion and neither one are doing anything interesting. The songs kind of meander and it feels like something more should be happening.
True Love is a very hit or miss album, with the hits winning in a nail biter. But really the phrase “opening for Michael Bolton” was probably all anyone needed to read to know if Jessy J was his or her cup of tea.
Dennis Mersmann MuzikReviews.com staff writer
July 22, 2009
Questions or comments regarding this review? Email Dennis dmersmann@muzikreviews.com