Nothing I love more than being surprised by an artist I am not familiar with. The latest example is below.
When I received the new album by
Milton Suggs, "
Pure Intention", his 13-song program of duets with pianist
Michael King, I ignored the press release and just listened to the album. In fact, I listened twice in a row. Who is this guy? Why have I never heard him before? Is this his debut? Then, I went to his website, read the PR, and realized this is his fifth album but first since 2016. Suggs has a deeply emotional delivery which feels soaked in gospel, blues, and jazz with touches of Nat "King" Cole, Sam Cooke (minus the melisma), and others. His 2010 debut album. "
Just Like Me" was a duo album with one of his mentors, Chicago stalwart pianist
Willie Pickens. The program features 10 songs from the Duke Ellington-Billy Strayhorn library. It certainly is an impressive debut – move forward 14 years and you can hear how his voice and style have matured. The influences are not as obvious on the new album, the songs, many of them jazz instrumentals that Suggs supplied the lyrics for, are well-crafted, and Michael King is a perfect accompanist!
The 13-song program opens with "Sing A Song of Song", a piece that celebrates the joy of singing. The lyrics also celebrate positivity, freedom, and more. After King's short solo, Suggs really digs into the vocal. "Sunrise in Malibu (A Pleasant Surprise)" is a sweet up-tempo love song in which Suggs sings about all the surprises (at least, the good ones) that make up one's life with the person. That's also an important aspect of this program – the singer's messages from song to song are quite positive. Even the wonderful cover of the O'Jays "Cry Together" (composed by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff) where the story talk about a couple going through tough times who end up not only crying together but making love and pledging to continue. Later in the program, "To Wisdom The Prize" speaks to people to take their time time, assess their lives, learn from their elders, and grow. King's piano solo on this tune is one of his high points, powerful yet emotional. His rhapsodic solo on "Pretty Eyes (Those Eyes)" shows the influence of both McCoy Tyner and George Gershwin.
The album closes with "
Golden Time of the Day", first recorded by Frankie Beverley & Maze in 1978. The duo really caress the melody and the swaying rhythms with a fadeout that one wishes went on even longer. Throughout the album, Suggs and King (who also studied with Willie Pickens) are in sync and never upstage each other. The intimacy of the music is what is so attractive about "
Pure Intention".
Milton Suggs and
Michael King invite the listener in to their living room, asks you to sit back in a comfortable chair, might even pour you a cool beverage, and then pour out their souls for the next hour. If you love vocal music created by someone who is concerned more with telling a story than impressing you with his/her technical dexterity, this album will give you great pleasure.
Here's Milton and Michael on the title track:
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