The third CD I got from Simon Rowe's Catalyst Productions is "When a Smile Overtakes a Frown" featuring Kansas City-based pianist and singer Luqman Hamza, who is somewhere between Nat King Cole and Joe Williams with a voice, if you ask me, just as mellifluous.
Besides "Golden Earrings," "Do I Hear a Waltz?" and other standards I haven't heard so much of that they tend to be uninteresting unless performed abstractly, Hamza does a few originals, ranging from the ballady "Expressing What She Means to Me" to the catchy, upbeat title track. Saxophonist Willie Akins and guitarist Will Matthews have some nice solos. Very pleasant straight-ahead vocal jazz.
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