I Would Give All My Love

Album Review

Mix two parts jazz, one part gospel, two parts soul, blend with a heavy dash of funk, standards, and some original material and play in a CD player for 58 minutes and out comes the first collaboration by New Orleans musicians vocalist Kim Prevost and guitar player Bill Solley. There are, of course, other notable vocal guitar duos: Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass, Irene Kral and Laurindo Almeida, Jeri Southern and Johnny Smith. None of these, however, are as daring and outrageous as Prevost and Solley on this recording. With Prevost's perfect pitch, excellent diction, ability to scat, swoop, and bend words backed by Solley's tightly strung seven-string Jimmy Foster guitar, "I Would Give All My Love is good music and a lot of fun.

There's a lot of soul on this album. "Lover Man" and the Prevost/Solley composed title tune are two good examples. On the latter, Prevost and Solley do their Ike and Tina Turner thing. "Blue Skies" is done with Solley drumming out the beat on the surface of his guitar. Solley's classical flamenco guitar kicks off "Besame Mucho," which segues to a smokey, sensuous Prevost vocal backed by Solley's Latin beat. With some clever dubbing, Prevost becomes a vocal duo, running off this classic at a frantic, funky pace with Bill Solley's guitar with an attitude sounding off a "take that" coda finishing off the romp. "Fever" should be rated "X." Prevost comes off as seductive and sexy as one will likely ever hear on a jazz recording. The sole instrumental, Bill Solley's "Prelude" reveals his classical training and is a relaxing interlude at this point in the proceedings. "Skylark" and "Café Nights" are delivered ballad style by Prevost's smokey, warm voice.

The variety of styles and sometime outrageous guitar playing on this album should not be confused with gimmickry. Rather this is a jaunt in versatility and imagination by two talented people who work very well together.