Alexis Cole - I Carry Your Heart: Sings Pepper Adams (2012)

A wonderful idea for a record very unique, and with a style that makes for one of the freshest jazz vocal sets we've heard in years! The tunes here are all numbers penned by saxophonist Pepper Adams a great change from overdone standards and they've got some inventive lyrics penned by Barry Wallenstein, sung with a very vivid, jazzy flourish by Alexis Cole!

The approach is wonderful – hardly what you'd expect from the usual jazz vocal set – and the instrumentation is also great too – a small combo, with twin tenors from Eric Alexander and Pat LaBarbera, both bringing in the kind of solo space and soulful inflections that Adams would have greatly appreciated. Titles include "Urban Dreams", "Julian", "Civilization & Its Discontents", "Lovers Of Their Time", and "Now In Our Lives".