Miki Howard - Private Collection

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:36
Size: 85,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:04)  1. Crazee
(4:16)  2. Favorite Time of the Year
(3:57)  3. Beer for Breakfast
(3:54)  4. She
(5:08)  5. You Made Me Love You
(2:43)  6. Skylark
(4:02)  7. Secret Love
(3:44)  8. Days of Wine and Roses
(2:16)  9. Guess Who?
(2:28) 10. Counting My Blessings

There is no doubt about the album of the month pick this time especially when this CD is also an extremely strong candidate for album of the year. Miki Howard’s previous CD Pillow Talk her first in five years was a collection of her favorite soul standards. When reviewing that album, I stated that I was “very happy that so many tracks have received a jazzy arrangement with lots of real instruments, and Miki is really in her element singing very personal readings of Inseparable, This Masquerade or Go Away Little Boy”. On this new album, Miki continues her exploration of standard songs, interpreting five of her favourite jazz ballads, but what is even more important, she opens the set with five brand new songs  all of which sound like instant classics! Miki is no novice at interpreting jazz standards: on her previous recordings, she has covered Imagination, You’ve Changed, Good Morning Heartache, This Bitter Earth and an albumful of Billie Holiday covers (Miki Sings Billie). You can thus easily believe that Miki is on familiar ground when she interprets Skylark, Secret Love, Days of Wine and Roses, Guess Who and Counting My Blessings. They are all backed by a genuine jazz trio of drums, piano and bass no saxophone this time. 

The overall atmosphere is quite serene, allowing Miki’s full-blown vocals to take the centre stage. I truly enjoyed every second. Still, I think the main course on Private Collection are the five new songs, on which the overall standard is sky high. They are produced by Miki herself together with Chuckii Booker. The set opens with the brilliant jazzy mid-tempo song Crazee, which really sounds like a classic but is a brand new song. The backdrop swings in an admirable way, driven by a strong bass line, piano riff and jazzy drumming, and in the middle of the track we are offered a lively piano solo. Miki herself sounds better and better each year, and I cannot imagine any other songstress to surpass her tasty performance on this pulsating masterpiece. Certainly among the top picks when we compile our year-end Quality Time top 30 list. The following track Favorite Time of the Year is equally breathtaking. It is a profound soul-jazz ballad with powerfully charged vocals by Miki from the very first second. It’s another track that will be listened intensively in this household years later. Beer for Breakfast is a song title that will delight beer aficionados amongst our readers  the actual song is quite impressive too, being a down-to-earth bluesy tune with great lyrics. The next two songs are obviously aimed for soul lovers. Those who adored Miki’s work with Gerald Levert and Marc Gordon in the late 80s, will undoubtedly fall in love with a track titled She, which sounds like late Mr. Levert would have masterminded both the composition and the arrangement. Chuckii Booker was of course also active on those times, producing many great soul artists like Lalah Hathaway, Marva Hicks, Angela Winbush and his godfather Barry White whereas Chuckii’s solo albums on Atlantic were from 1989 and 1992. 

Even much better is, though, the next new song You Made Me Love You, which rivals earlier Miki Howard classics such as Love Under New Management. I personally described Love Under New Management as a heavily gospel-influenced burner, and precisely the same description fits to You Made Me Love You; a majestic new composition with wonderful bitter-sweet lyrics and Miki’s powerful, emotional interpretation. https://www.soulexpress.net/mikihoward_privatecollection.htm

Personnel:  Miki Howard – Vocals, Composer; Chuckii Booker – Keyboards, Background Vocals, Composer; Brandon McCune – Piano; Trevor Allen – Bass; Producer – Chuckii Booker, Brandon McCune, Miki Howard

Private Collection

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Miki Howard - Miki Sings Billie: A Tribute to Billie Holiday

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1993
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:37
Size: 86,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:53)  1. What A Little Moonlight Can Do
(4:03)  2. I'm A Fool To Want You
(3:07)  3. My Man
(4:41)  4. Solitude
(2:55)  5. 'T'aint Nobody's Business If I Do
(2:14)  6. Yesterdays
(3:46)  7. Now Or Never
(5:24)  8. Don't Explain
(4:07)  9. Strange Fruit
(3:23) 10. I Want To Be Your Mother's Son-In-Law

Miki Howard tries her hand at jazz repertory with this Billie Holiday tribute album. Howard was smart enough to sing the songs in her own style rather than try to emulate Holiday. Howard mostly scores on this disc, turning in fine, sometimes triumphant performances on "Solitude," "My Man" and "Don't Explain." Only on "Strange Fruit" does she miss the boat; she's too mannered and pristine on a brutally painful number. In addition, the label made this the ninth, rather than last, track on the disc. The bemused, ironic qualities of "I Want To Be Your Mother's Son-In-Law" seem out-of-place following a tune about vicious inhumanity. But those two decisions aside, Miki Howard has given Billie Holiday a solid tribute and ably displayed her own skills in the process. ~ Ron Wynn http://www.allmusic.com/album/miki-sings-billie-a-tribute-to-billie-holiday-mw0000105824

Miki Sings Billie: A Tribute to Billie Holiday

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Miki Howard - I Choose to Be Happy

Styles: Vocal, Soul
Year: 2015
File: MP3@224K/s
Time: 34:55
Size: 56,2 MB
Art: Front

(6:11)  1. Ain't Nobody Like You
(3:27)  2. Soon I'll Be Loving You Again
(7:57)  3. Come Share My Love
(5:40)  4. Pillow Talk
(7:23)  5. Days of Wine and Roses
(3:51)  6. Panther
(0:22)  7. I Choose to Be Happy

Miki Howard grew up in the church, where both of her parents were gospel singers. Her mother was also a member of the gospel group the Caravans and was acquainted with various entertainers. Howard's mother would take her to the homes of various stars such as Aretha Franklin and Mavis Staples. While still in elementary school, Howard moved to Los Angeles with her mom. At the age of 15, she performed in a teen pageant. After the show, she met Side Effect member Augie Johnson, who happened to be in the audience and began working with Howard creatively. After a period of time, Howard became a Side Effect member -- upon the departure of Sylvia St. James. Howard's tenure with the group lasted a few years. During this time, she also had two children by Johnson. In addition to singing with Side Effect, she did background vocals for Wayne Henderson, Roy Ayers, Stanley Turrentine, and several other artists. After leaving Side Effect, Howard signed a deal with Atlantic. Her first hit for the label was the Billboard R&B Top Ten single "Come Share My Love." She followed that with the remake of Glenn Miller's 1940 hit "Imagination." Her success continued with two more Top Ten singles, "Baby Be Mine" and "That's What Love Is." The latter was a duet with Gerald Levert and was the result of the creative union Howard formed with Marc Gordon and Levert. Howard and Levert later became romantically involved, and that romance spawned one of Howard's biggest hits, "Love Under New Management." 

The song was written during their brief love affair, but was released after their romance had dissolved. In 1990, Howard signed a deal with Giant, which facilitated the release of her number one smash hit "Ain't Nobody Like You." Howard's lifeline at Giant was cut short due to an altercation her husband had at the label. She also made an appearance as Billie Holiday in a club scene in the Spike Lee movie Malcom X. Howard continued to issue albums throughout the '90s and early 2000s, a few of them heavy on  or wholly reliant upon covers. Her releases during these years included Femme Fatale (1992), Shining Through (1993), Live Plus (1996), Can't Count Me Out (1997), Three Wishes (2001), and Pillow Talk (2006).~Craig Lytle http://www.allmusic.com/artist/miki-howard-mn0000897205/biography

I Choose to Be Happy

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Miki Howard - Love Confessions

Size: 102,3 MB
Time: 43:54
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1987
Styles: R&B, Soul
Art: Front

01. Baby Be Mine (5:28)
02. You've Changed (3:31)
03. That's What Love Is (4:29)
04. In Too Deep (4:01)
05. Crazy (4:20)
06. Bitter Love (4:20)
07. I Wanna Be There (4:02)
08. Reasons (4:06)
09. Love Confession (5:01)
10. Edge Of Love (4:32)

The substantial success of “Baby, Be Mine” and “That’s What Love Is” helped define Miki Howard as a master of the simmering love song. The latter song, co-performed by Gerald Levert, is a great example of Howard’s ability to bring crackling intensity to what might otherwise be a fairly simple piece of pop-oriented R&B. But that’s the kind of singer Howard was—she made her partners better and elevated her material, even when it was somewhat generic. Some of the best songs on 1987’s Love Confessions are its least heard. The skipping, shimmering “Bitter Love,” with its call-and-response chorus, provides a fresh twist on Howard’s gospel roots, while “Edge of Love” is one her smoothest, catchiest tunes. As a vocalist, Howard was so light on her feet that it’s somewhat surprising that these uptempo gems didn’t become her biggest hits. Then again, when you experience the smoldering atmosphere of “Reasons” and “Crazy,” or even the more traditional “You’ve Changed,” it’s obvious why fans loved the singer when she slowed down. Where the lusty material might have engulfed other singers, ballads only served to heighten Howard’s focus.

MC
Ziddu

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