Michael Lington - Stay With Me

Saxophonist Michael Lington’s CD’s just seem to be getting better with each release. Stay With Me is chalked full of beautiful songs. It’s like one after the other. It is also a combination of strongly written material with top notch musicianship that makes this disc a winner. Extras include appearances by Brian Culbertson, Chuck Loeb, Wendy Moten, Michael Sembello. Paul Jackson, Jr. and Paul Brown. The first track is one of the most up beat tracks of the CD with a Dave Koz type bouncy feel. (Hey why not, Rendezvous Records is partially owned by Koz.) You can tell instantly why this was the first radio single. Strong and catchy. “Don’t Go” has this soul taste with background vocals by Wendy Moten doing a Mindi Abair type of approach. It works. “Pacifica” might be just one of my favorites on the disc. It has Brown on acoustic guitar and the song has Lington playing like a West Coast California bounce. The title track is very romantic, very passionate and very heartfelt. There are some loving vocals here, but they are not necessarily needed. The song is one of the prettier songs among many on the CD. The lone cover is a very big production of Paul McCartney’s “My Love.” You can tell that Lington wanted to do it justice. Ten songs in all on Stay With Me. If Lington keeps making records like this he should do well on both the radio and Billboard charts. --Jeff Charney www.contemporaryjazz.com