Firefly Soul – Taking Time Out
LA based R & B songstress Aysha recently caught the attention of Smooth Jazz Therapy with her latest recording ‘Stay With Me’. At the time I described it as ‘a tight and extremely personal collection that includes notable input from several smooth jazz superstars’ and now she has re-emerged as a featured vocalist on the seven track CD ‘Taking Time Out’ from adult contemporary collective Firefly Soul. All the more surprising for the fact that the band’s two central figures, Lenny Sharman and Ben Meeking, are based in Melbourne, Australia, this liaison sits comfortably with other guest appearances from singer Tepaeru (from New Zealand) and Australian sax-man Justin Hall. The resultant fusion of vocals, orchestration and harmony makes for very interesting listening
In fact ‘Taking Time Out’ is arranged around a gentle construct of cool grooves and this is particularly noticeable with ‘Island Town’ that features Tepaeru but which paradoxically has something of a Van Morrison flavor about it. The Steely Dan like title cut benefits from tender sax from Justin Hall and while the hypnotic ‘Energy Flowing’ is among the album’s best tunes it is Aysha’s performance on ‘Fallen Angel’ that steals the show.
This smoothly flowing and decidedly soulful number (which can also be found on Aysha’s 2006 project ‘Love Is A Rock’) can only help to widen the appeal of Firefly Soul from what some call ‘down under’ to the rest of the world
http://smoothjazztherapy.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/09/firefly-soul-taking-time-out.html
