Will Downing

Not every vocalist would be so bold as to take on John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," but Will Downing injects it with a contemporary energy, backed by a salsa-inflected rhythm section. He manages to drain the saccharine out of Paul Davis' 1978 hit, "I Go Crazy," turning it into a sweet R&B love ballad. While his cover of Luther Vandross' "Superstar" is faithful to the original, he manages to imbue it with his own mellifluous baritone sound.

Will Downing and Mica Paris take on the Donny Hathaway & Roberta Flack classic "Where Is the Love" in brilliant fashion; their voices blend flawlessly. His "Lullaby" is perhaps the outstanding track on the rather uneven Golden Slumbers: A Father's Love collection. And you'd have to go back to Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald's recording of "The Nearness of You" to find as evocative a rendering as Gerald Albright and Downing have produced.

Will Downing injects a rarely heard edge into his cover of Bill Withers' "Grandma's Hands." Neo-bossa guitarist Jonathan Butler provides a lilting counterpoint on "Don't Wait for Love." And "Just a Game," from his album Moods, falls into the classic late-night-at-the-bar vein of Johnny Mercer & Harold Arlen's "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)."

Every now and then, an artist will inspire the question "Why is this guy not a superstar?" Will Downing is handsome, has a voice like smoky butterscotch, has cut tracks with Mica Paris and Rachelle Farrell, and even does a charity turn as spokesperson for the American Stroke Association. Despite his continual Top 10 presence on the Contemporary Jazz charts, he has never been able to break through to the top third of the broader Pop Album chart. If you're a fan of "quiet storm" R&B and haven't yet encountered Downing, you're in for a treat.