Pop-jazz reedsman
Nelson Rangell returns with the amiable
Soul to Souls, an album evenly split between familiar covers and originals. The standards, including "A Night in Tunisia,"
Earl Klugh's "Vonetta," and
Joe Sample's "Free as the Wind," are mostly pleasant but uninspired; the exception is a lovely recasting of
Stevie Wonder's "Send One Your Love" (from his underrated fusion experiment
Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants) that features some of
Rangell's most haunting and inspired flute playing. The originals blend R&B and pop influences into
Rangell's mainstream, smooth aesthetic; as always, his playing is impeccable and the production is pristine, but there's little sense of new artistic ground being broken on
Soul to Souls. At its best, the album is a recapitulation of
Rangell's talents; at it's worst, it's treading water.