Adriana Evans

by Alex HendersonDespite some jazz and hip-hop touches here and there, Adriana Evans' promising debut album leaves no doubt that her primary inspiration is the sleek "uptown" soul music of the 1970s. Indeed, smooth yet earthy gems like "Heaven," "Looking for Your Love" and "Love Is All Around" sound like they could have been recorded 20 years earlier by the Emotions, Minnie Riperton or Jean Carn. Evans, an expressive and charismatic singer, is the daughter of jazz belter Mary Stallings, and her exposure to jazz has left is mark. The seductive "Reality," in fact, isn't unlike something jazz vibist turned soul and funk singer Roy Ayers would have done in the late '70s. But make no mistake: Evans is an R&B artist first and foremost. In contrast to the homogenized nature of so much of the urban contemporary music recorded in 1997, this CD sounds consistently organic and heartfelt.