Melba Moore & Phil Perry – The Gift of Love

Melba Moore and Phil Perry
The Gift of Love
Shanachie Records 2009
www.shanachie.com

Billy Preston and Syreeta. James Ingram and Linda Ronstadt. Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Jerry Butler and Betty Everett. Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams.

Like all of these classic couplings, Melba Moore and Phil Perry are delicious together.

Their first album collaboration is The Gift of Love, a sweet sampling of songs about love and faith, which marks Moore’s return to R&B in nearly 20 years. Most of the selections on the CD are ballads, though the pair’s duet on Ashford and Simpson’s “You’re All I Need to Get By” is accompanied by a light disco beat. In addition to the compositions of Ashford and Simpson, Moore and Perry also cover Stevie Wonder (“Weakness”) and the Spinners (“Sadie”), an ode to a gentler, simpler time.

Gospel fans will enjoy the current single, “Optimistic,” which is an uptempo candidate for smooth jazz radio rotation; and especially the couple’s version of John P. Kee’s “It Will Be Alright.” Here, both Moore and Perry demonstrate their ability to shout old school-style.

Moore pulls upon her well-honed Broadway skills to render the chestnut, “I Believe.” A nice surprise is “We’ll Be Together Again,” a touching elegy about loved ones who have gone on to glory and the love they leave behind. Moore co-wrote “U Never Know,” a pleasant but brief jazz piece that in its expression of love could be spiritual, emotional or physical. Like many of the songs on The Gift of Love, that determination is left up to the listener’s own interpretation.

And perhaps that is the lesson of The Gift of Love: whether between two people, parents and children, friends, or people and their God, love is love.

For more information about the making of The Gift of Love, check out TBGB’s interview with Melba Moore.

Four of Five Stars

gPod picks: “Optimistic,” “It Will Be Alright.”