After a remarkable career spanning thirty-five years, Kenny Rankin is better known as an interpreter than a songwriter. He is one of the few singers whose covers are sometimes better than the original and certainly completely different. Again, Rankin's Verve label debut A Song for You contains well-elaborated performances, complemented with extremely subtle music by a studio quartet consisting of
… David Spinozza (acoustic and electric guitar), Christian McBride (bass), Leon Pendarvis (keyboards) and Lewis Nash (drums). The album also features guest appearances from Roy Hargrove (trumpet), Chris Potter (tenor sax) and Russell Malone (guitar). However you try to pigeonhole Kenny Rankin, as a jazz vocalist, pop artist or introspective singer / songwriter, the frank emotional immediacy of his singing makes these classifications irrelevant. (RM)more
