Introducing Robin McKelle

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Robin McKelle is being promoted as a '40s-style jazz singer, but though she does pluck tunes from the era on this enjoyable debut, her full-frontal approach is steeped in the brassy big band sounds of the late '50s and early '60s. A bicoastal stylist who draws equally from the lilting jazz purity of Ella Fitzgerald and the pop pizzazz of Barbra Streisand, she is a refreshing departure from all those female jazz singers currently vying for attention with coy understatement or an overreliance on technique. Introducing Robin McKelle was produced by Willie Murillo, previously an arranger for Brian Setzer and Aimee Mann, who is responsible for an unlikely arrangement of "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" that morphs from moody chamber piece into full-fledged Latin treatment. The album's other highlights include a lovely, understated rendition of "For All We Know," a winning duet with Robbie Wycoff on Sammy Fain's "You Brought a New Kind of Love," and a slam-bang treatment of "Come Rain or Come Shine." Throughout, McKelle luxuriates in her love of the music without overdoing the nostalgia. A third-place finisher in the 2004 Thelonious Monk Vocal Jazz Competition, she scores here by avoiding predictability without trying to. --Lloyd Sachs