Search - Lalah Hathaway :: Self Portrait

A soulful, hypnotic journey.

modern jazz | 06/03/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Soul/Jazz vocalist Lalah Hathaway has a velvet, smoky voice that demands exuberant attention. Her songs wrangle with passion and vibrant inimacy.

Enjoying traditional jazz and neo-soul styles, "Self Portait" is a familiar and yet still the future of adult/contemporary R&B and vocal jazz.

Lalah's songwriting is tight and compelling with her vocals enjoying the spotlight as her talents are well exposed through vibrant production here.

With "Self Portrait", her new disc just out on the reactivated Stax imprint (which is distributed via Concord Music Group) and her fifth studio album, including the Joe Sample duet The Song Lives On, and on which she co-wrote and co-produced, she is poised to express who she is, where she is, today, at this very moment.

After four years from the rather mediocre and monotonous Outrun the Sky, on this one she takes listeners on an intimate, explorative path through her own past, present and future and how it's shaped the woman she's now become.

The album also brings Lalah together once again with renowned producer Rex Rideout, who served as the producer of the 2004 Grammy-nominated all-star tribute album "Forever, For Always, For Luther", for which Lalah achieved her first #1 single for "Forever, For Always, For Love".

The CD also calls upon the talents of co-writers and vocalists Rahsaan Patterson and Sandra St. Victor.

Leading the 12-song collection is "Let Go," a dance-oriented, up-tempo number she produced with Rex Rideout and wrote alongside Rahsaan Patterson. And just as the title suggests, the song is about acknowledging and releasing whatever's not working to make room for the next experience. The track reminds the listener of Lalah's 1990 hit "Heaven Only Knows".

Both songs share the same vibe of exercising the faith that everything will be just fine at the end of the day. "I've had to let go of quite a few things, quite a few situations and a couple of mindsets," she admits about the origins of her first single. "Every so often, I have to remind myself to just let some stuff go - from people and relationships to an old pair of jeans".

Ms. Hathaway is one of American finest Soul/Jazz chanteuse.

I have to admit that she is extremely attractive...as well.

This selection of songs sees her on jazzier territory, that will appeal to fans of Anita Baker and Regina Belle.

Engaging songs like "For always" and "Tragic Ivevitability" underline just how fine a singer Lalah is.

Special guests Lenny Castro on percussion, Brandon Filelds on saxophone and Tim Carmon on keyboads. .

"1 Mile", and "Learning To Swim" are smoother affairs with gentle lilting grooves.

I just love the songs she sings and her soulful style.

Enjoy !"

High Quality Music

Olukayode Balogun | Leeds, England | 07/19/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lalah Hathaway breathes fresh air into the regenerated Stax label with what is possibly her best album to date. It's definitely my favourite already. If you're anything like me, and you wonder where all the good music has gone, aghast at the ever-increasing paucity of deep meaningful soul and the ever-increasing dominance of superficial, gimmicky R&B, then this CD might reassure you. Lalah's lineage is not only clear in her warm vocal tone, style and phrasing but also in the kind of music she chooses to make. Donny would undoubtedly be proud.



Hathaway writes a great deal of the album herself (with co-writing credits mainly going to her producers) and Rex Rideout, who had critical success last year with Ledisi's Lost & Found, takes care of the majority of the production work. He and Hathway had worked together before but not to this extent. Hathaway herself takes up the rest of the production with help from Kenneth Crouch, Terrace Martin, Paula Gallitano and Manuel Hugas & Wiboud Burkens.



The album kicks off with the obviously radio-intended "let go", co-written and featuring vocals by my man Rahsaan Patterson and while a pleasant enough mid-tempo head-nodder (though personally I could have done without the vocoder), the song only hints at the magic to be found within the album. My personal favourites include the smooth jazz-influenced ballads "on your own", "for always", "that was then", "learning to swim" (which features fretless bass by Marcus Miller, no less), "little girl", (which actually contains the spoken voice of the great man himself; an interview excerpt from the album These Songs for You, Live!), "what goes around" and the brilliant album closer, "tragic inevitability".



Noteworthy if not a firm favourite right now, is "1 mile". It also sounds like it might have radio in mind. It certainly has a definite hip-hop/r&b edge and contains a rap I thought was by Andre 3000 when I first heard it but is actually by a dude called Andre Edwards aka "Bokie".



This is definitely high quality music - in my opinion of course - with deep, steamy bass lines and jazzy keyboard chords, and I say a huge thank you to Lalah Hathaway for giving us something decent to listen to for a change. Decidedly recommended.



Also highly recommended: 2004's Outrun the Sky, 1999's The Song Lives On (with Joe Sample) and even 1990's Lalah Hathaway. For me, the Gary Taylor ballad "i'm coming back" and the Angela Winbush one, "i gotta move on" are worth the price of that last CD I mentioned, all on their own."

Lalah's Self Portrait

Deveron Patterson | USA | 04/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of the most outstanding things about Lalah Hathaway, is her ability to transit a melody to a destination that's by far exciting and unique!



Her phraseology is incomparable and her delivery is spell bounding...when it comes to carrying a tune, she owns it once she's placed her stamp on it!



Her level of musicianship is beyond measure!



and deserves much attention.



I only anticipate as everyone one else her upcoming offering!



It is sure to be nothing short of amazement and wonder...

But don't just take it from me, see for yourself and get the record!



D. Patterson

"