Gene Russell
should be a name familiar to committed and more casual fans of jazz and R&B made in the 1970s. Talk to My Lady has its transcendent moments. There's Russell's bold transformation of the John Coltrane-identified "My Favorite Thing," where his Fender Rhodes gets matched in breakneck intensity by Franklin's standup bass and 20-year-old Leon "Ndugu" Chancler's drums. Playing acoustic piano, Russell sounds at ease with the funk of "Get Down" and, now plugged-in, he personalizes Gamble and Huff's "Me And Mrs. Jones" and Stevie Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" with soulful feeling.