While he\u2019s no newcomer to music, Step Inside <\/i>marks the solo debut of legendary bassist Kevin Jenkins. Working every big stage from the Royal Albert Hall to Madison Square Garden, Jenkins has supported a myriad of artists during his 38 years on the music scene. He\u2019s opened for Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton, and BB King, and he\u2019s played anchor on bass for Cyndi Lauer, Enrique Iglesias, and Graham Parker, among countless others. Jenkins has a knack for effortlessly navigating a wide variety of sounds, as evidenced by the sheer diversity in his collaborations over the years. So it\u2019s no surprise that his first outing at the mic is equally eclectic, finding him teaming up with NYC soul artist T\u00f3mas Doncker, who co-writes and helped produce all of the tunes on Step Inside. <\/i>While there is a soulful R&B core underlying most of the songs here, he also tries his hand at blues, reggae, pop, and jazz, using his engaging vocal stylings and strong ear for instrumentation to blend everything well.<\/p>\n
After a short vocal interlude on \u201cFlying,\u201d Jenkins launches into the slinky rhythms of \u201cWhat Comes Around.\u201d \u201cStep inside my circle, take this trip with me,\u201d he implores, all honeyed vocals and absolutely electric guitar lines mingling with the horns. Meanwhile, the seductive \u201cCan\u2019t Get Over You\u201d is pure \u201870s soul in the vein of Marvin Gaye or Stevie Wonder. Jenkins weaves effortlessly from falsetto to soaring, full-throated choruses, showing his chops as a frontman. The warmhearted quality to his vocals throughout Step Inside <\/i>is a key to making the album so inviting and organic. <\/p>\n
Jenkins takes on Jimmy Webb\u2019s \u201cWichita Lineman\u201d (made famous by Glen Campbell) but gives it a mellow, tuneful jazz spin, flecked with slow-rising synths and gentle bass. It\u2019s an even more soulful interpretation than the country original that sounds unassuming on first listen but grows more resonant with each spin as the tenderness sinks in. From this silky balladry, he swerves into the reggae beats of \u201cSave The Day,\u201d which features a sultry sax line weaving past the muted interplay of drums and horns, and \u201cTake This Ride,\u201d a duet with Shemekia Copeland that veers into twangy blues territory. Their two voices blend well together against a backdrop of rich guitar soloing and solid bass work. <\/p>\n
While the first half of Step Inside <\/i>has a strong sense of diversity that is anchored by Jenkins\u2019 considerable talents, the second part of the album falters a little in terms of musical depth. Tracks like \u201cLearn To Love,\u201d \u201cAmazing,\u201d and \u201cChange Of Heart\u201d are tuneful yet bogged down by the vagueness of the lyrics. The sentiment is there in lines like \u201cIt\u2019s never too late to have a change, a change of heart \/ It\u2019s never too late to take a chance, make a new start\u201d (from \u201cChange Of Heart\u201d), but the lack of specificity hinders the full impact of these grooves and they blur together a bit too much to be meaningful. <\/p>\n
But on his first effort, Kevin Jenkins\u2019 has created a charming batch of songs that is true to his description of his work: \u201csouful organic pop with a positive, uplifting message.\u201d Check out this frontman who is 38 years in the making.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":31583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9208],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-43288","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kevin-jenkins","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43288"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}