Sometimes you’ll read a book and wish you were in it, or you’ll see a picture of an inviting vista and imagine yourself being there. That is what singer-songwriter Sherri Roberts does with her music, create a world that people would like to be in, surrounded by its comfy goose-down feathers and shiny lame threads. Roberts creates a series of soothing jazz escapes moving through her album The Sky Could Send You. Produced and arranged by Harvie S, the album interprets American jazz and Brazilian standards producing a millinery of tunes designed to fit the craniums of modern jazz thinkers.
Roberts’ voice moves like a warm South Seas breeze combing across the shoreline as the sprigs of teetering vibraphone notes played by Tim Collins in songs like "Return To Paradise" and "Jamaica Farewell" produce sprightly coned crests along the gentle rhythmic swells. The wispy piano cells of David Udolf on "You’re Nearer" pleat Roberts’ vocals delicately as saxophonist Phil Woods moves in and out of the melodic spreads antennaed with a sagacious perception. Roberts’ voice moves with stealth-like agility across the bumpy bass knolls played by Harvie S in Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s tune "Do It The Hard Way." Her vocal prowess consists of majestically sounding rises, softly strummed pirouettes, and evenly keeled glides. The tender expressions in her vocal inflections through "Por Toda Minha Vida" tugs at the heartstrings even if you don’t understand a single word she says, and the joyful sway of her vocal steps through the Brazilian-tinged swishing of "Jamaica Farewell" are beaded in fossils of jujube tones and waterfalls of Caribbean soaked percussions.
With a vocal sophistication reflective of Jane Monheit and a gleeful fancy-free gliding liken to Diane Schuur, Sherri Roberts shows singing that touches fans of all ages. Her singing attracts people like a good book or a beautiful landscape. She takes jazz into modern times. No longer a shadow of the ‘50s when vocalists like Lena Horne and Doris Day led the pack, Sherri Roberts is a breath of fresh air to smooth jazz vocalese making it a brand of music that new generations can feel represents them.
