Singular women

The two recordings today come from two women charting their own courses within the R&B, Urban music genre. While Andra is the fresh name, there’s an old soul quality to the music she is creating. Grammy Award winner Jill Scott checks in with her latest, and it quickly shot to No. 1 on US Billboard charts.

Andra Day — Cheers to the Fall (Warner Music; available on Amazon.com). If you’re still mourning the untimely death of Amy Winehouse, or are wondering if Adele post-operation will still sound as great as in her first two albums, then it’s time you check out the wonderful CD of Andra Day. San Diego native Andra is comfortable in soul, gospel, R&B, jazz and the blues. Like some reincarnated Eartha Kitt, she has a raspy delivery that also carries range; listen to Rise Up. The carrier singles are Forever Mine and the aforementioned Rise. My immediate favorites were Not Today, Mistakes and Red Flags. It’s the sassy attitude and enthralling voice control that had me searching for superlatives when describing my discovery of Andra and the debut recording. She should have a long career ahead of her based on the debut.

Jill Scott — Woman (Atlantic Recording; available on Amazon.com). Singer-songwriter, poet, actress, role model; there seems to be no limits to Scott’s artistry and endeavors. First discovered as a spoken word artist, she joined Erykah Badu in the Roots group, then embarked on a solo career. Woman is the new album, and it showcases the different facets of her enormous talent. Fool’s Gold is the neo soul carrier single, while the opener Cookie harkens back to her spoken word phase. Prepared and Run Run Run had me thinking modern-day Aretha. Closure is exhilarating retro soul and really hums when Jill shifts to her upper registers. Then, she segues to You Don’t Know, a gut-wrenching blues gospel number. On top of all this, Scott becomes principal at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in 2016; giving back to the industry which gave her a career.