Kansas City Star
February 27th, 2004

TUEY CONNELL
Under The Influence
(Minor Music)
3.5 of 4 stars


If most jazz vocalists aren't going to move beyond standards, then they should at least put a fresh spin to their CDs the way Tuey Connell has done.

Connell sings and swings with a sonorous baritone voice that never flags, even on ballads; where other singers get wispy, he performs with confident sensitivity. Think of Chet Baker with a full-bodied style or Johnny Hartman with more overtones.

But Connell also brings to mind Ella Fitzgerald for his seamless vocalizing inside a lyric without showing off. The album's best phraseology goes to Connell and tenor saxman Geof Bradfield, who makes very good use of legato lines and sequence.

The Steve Klink Trio backs Connell with an expertise of styles from straight-ahead to folk-blues jazz. When you add three Connell originals in new-standard style with smart arrangements by Connell, Klink and Bradfield, you have an album that thankfully goes beyond the same-old/same-old.

- Robert Folsom

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