Deciding to break out on his own, Javier recorded an EP and was signed by Capitol Records to record his eponymous debut album in Summer 2003. Javier wass an interesting CD that clearly showed a talented young artist working to find his voice. And what a voice. Half Donny Hathaway and half Kenny Lattimore, Javier possesses a wonderful range and a talent for wrapping his bright voice around a tune. He also shows that he can write, as evidenced by the first single, "Crazy," an irresistible pop/soul tune that has dominated urban adult contemporary radio all Fall. Similar ground is covered by "Biggest Mistake," where Javier does his Brian McKnight thing, delivering a hooky soul midtempo number. More interesting are two aching ballads, "Song For Your Tears," which recalls the aura of Donny Hathaway's "Giving Up," and "In Your Hands," a touching acoustic song. The disc finishes with "October Sky," a jazz vocal number (featuring jazz great Roy Hargrove) that doesn't quite fit the rest of the LP, but appears to be designed to show Javier's versatility -- and in that vein it works okay. The other songs on the CD, while not as compelling, aren't clunkers, either, and Javier ends up a solid overall disc, though maybe aimed a little more at the pop market than most recent Soul CDs.

After a three year delay, in March 2006 Javier released his sophomore disc, Left of Center, lesser disc on which Javier attempted -- too hard -- to mimic the faceless sound of modern R&B artists such as Bobby Valentino and Chris Brown. It died a quick death.

By Chris Rizik