Angella Christie - Draw The Line

Published Tuesday 1st March 2005
Angella Christie - Draw The Line
Angella Christie - Draw The Line

STYLE: Jazz
RATING 6 6 6 6 6 6
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 11770-10551
LABEL: Independent
FORMAT: CD Album

Reviewed by Andy Cooper

Angélla Christie is an American alto saxophonist who has become quite well known in her homeland for playing bare-foot! She breaks no new musical ground for jazz, but it's good to have such a solid spiritual underpinning to the tunes here. Angélla's alto saxophone sings beautifully and with full body through each track, with strong and smooth urban R&B and gospel influenced backing. At times, she is reminiscent of David Sanborn and I was trying really hard not to mention Kenny G, but the ballads do bring him to mind. However, most of the tunes also have backing vocals, giving a clue to the God-centred inspiration behind the music. She even includes a version of "Lord I Lift Your Name On High" and the ubiquitous "Oh Happy Day". But there is one problem: too much of the same thing. I love the saxophone, and have been playing it myself for over 10 years, but here she hardly stops for breath through the entire disc and no other instruments get a solo (except for one duel with an electric guitar). More variety and more input from other instruments are needed to make a well rounded and satisfying album.

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