to listen or purchase
Trizonna McClendon's new CD NewFamiliar is aptly titled. The songs are originals created for this album, but these are sounds that listeners have heard before. Hence, the album gives music fans a helping of the new and the familiar. Still, it would be incorrect to call New Familiar a retro record because musically NewFamiliar covers so much territory. McClendon gives listeners everything from the Edith Piaf inspired "This Is My Range," to the 1980s funk of "Love Electric" and the modern R&B of "Shatter Proof."
Trizonna McClendon's new CD NewFamiliar is aptly titled. The songs are originals created for this album, but these are sounds that listeners have heard before. Hence, the album gives music fans a helping of the new and the familiar. Still, it would be incorrect to call New Familiar a retro record because musically NewFamiliar covers so much territory. McClendon gives listeners everything from the Edith Piaf inspired "This Is My Range," to the 1980s funk of "Love Electric" and the modern R&B of "Shatter Proof."
For my money, lyrics that are well written - that either touch on a variety of topics or give listeners divergent views on a single topic - never go out of style. Mature voices that handle funky, sensual and topical material performed in a variety of tempos will always be appealing, and production values that embrace cutting edge, right now technology, as well as classic instrumentation inspired by jazz, blues and rock without sounding soulless or derivative is the kind of music that I will always find compelling.
NewFamiliar has all of those qualities. "This Is My Range," is a song that highlights McClendon as a student of music history who enough control over her vocal instrument to give listeners a taste of what it must have sounded like to hear Piaf sing in Paris in the 1930s and 40s. The arrangement is sparse with McClendon's vocals accompanied by a piano. "This Is My Range," is not the best song on NewFamiliar, but it is the tune that truly represents McClendon's flair for experimentation and taking chances.
NewFamiliar includes songs that are radio friendly such as the mid-tempo "My Special," and songs that deal with social issues like "A Song For Teena (What About You?)." "My Special," is mid-tempo funk song in which McClendon sings about why her special someone is - well - special. I like the song, but I actually like the remix that concludes the album better for the way it combines elements of dance music, and jazz around McClendon's vocals. "A Song For Teena" is a folksy anthem that finds McClendon engaged in musical conversation with a woman who is at risk of believing that part of a man is better than none at all.
I'd be remiss if I didn't say a few words about McClendon's voice. On "This Is My Range," McClendon sings "The press has compared me to Minnie/Her high notes I do not hit any/This is my range." And you won't hear any of the five octave vocal range for which the late Minnie Ripperton was famous. However, that one vocal flourish can obscure the similarities McClendon has with Riperton. At the mid-range, McClendon has Riperton's vocal style that is both soothing and sensual. That's why Ripperton could sound totally believable on disparate tunes such as "Loving You" and "Inside My Love." McClendon's phrasing is also very similar to Riperton, and it allows McClendon to sound equally believable on the jazz inspired "Love Divine," the funky "Alright." That puts McClendon in some pretty good company, and after listening to New Familiar; most will conclude that Trizonna McClendon belongs there. Recommended
By Howard Dukes