Victor Fields | ‘Thinking of You’

There are reasons why it’s called smooth jazz. One is the smooth sound of sultry vocalist Victor Fields. With his fourth album in stores, the artist, called a “soulful singer with a jazzy feel,” has got the genre covered – literally.

The new disc, titled “Thinking of You,” is a collection of covers and features a dynamic list of musicians and producers, including Chris Comozzi, keyboardist Jeff Lorber, saxophonist Richard Elliot and flugelhorn player Rich Braun.

This album is more than a remake of classic soul hits, though. It’s an enlightening piece of work that led the veteran singer to find his own identity. After creating his first through third albums with certain goals in mind, Fields said that this was the first time he just walked in the studio and laid down a record with no agenda.

“The very first record I started out with, Kashif was the producer. It was a very Urban AC (Adult Contemporary) CD,” he described. “The second project, I moved back to the Bay Area. It was something that I didn’t plan, but something that felt natural. I wanted to be more grounded, so I went into more of a jazz thing. But I think there is still a lot of soul still left in me and I didn’t really understand that until we were talking about the next album.”

What Fields referred to was the development, or lack of development to some degree, of this project. He sat down with his producer who simply suggested that he “have some fun” in doing the new project.

“Having fun equated to some classic R&B tunes, like ‘Lovely Day’; songs that I just thought were great songs,” Fields explained. “I think that you can take a writer like Bill Withers and can put him on the same level as Paul McCartney and Leonard Bernstein. He’s one of the most underrated contemporary songwriters.”

Fields continued that the disc made him feel like he was coming into his own because of the energy in creating the disc.

“You can feel it in the new CD; you can feel the energy,” he said. “The way people stretched and contributed on this record ... it’s like everyday was fun. The first day we went in and did ‘Lovely Day’ and it had so much beautiful energy. This is the kind of music I like.”

Since he’s now coming into his own, EUR’s Lee Bailey asked the singer how he would describe his sound:

“I’m just a student of voice,” he said modestly. “I got into this thing; I took some voice lessons and got very serious about singing all types of music; from Negro spirituals to jazz to R&B to pop. The word eclectic has been used and I understand that because of the diversity of my repertoire and all the types of music that I’ve done. I’ve done all that. I’m very much into melody. I’m kind of a classic. I just really paid attention and respect a lot of the real classic singers and try to incorporate that into my [music].”

No matter what he considers his genre, the Brooklyn-born singer, who considers himself both an R&B and smooth jazz artist, said he realizes his sound is shaped by listeners and his fans.

“In the bio, I’m trying to describe where I’m going, but my audience is telling me where I need to be. That’s what I mean when I say that I’m evolving and I’m fitting into a spot, I’m in a natural place. I mean that I didn’t do anything for radio; I didn’t do anything for marketing. I’m just doing fun.”

Fields promised that his next project would probably be more original material, but said that the style would stay the same – a hybrid of R&B and jazz. But he is definitely content with his current project’s stylings.

“It just felt freer, lighter. At the end of the day I liked every song. I didn’t analyze, I didn’t think, I just sang. And I said, ‘This feels good and this is where I need to be.’,” he said.

To get more on Victor Fields and check out the music from “Thinking of You,” visit his website at www.victorfields.com.

By Kenya M Yarbrough - eurweb.com

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