Albums
< Nellie McKay
Pretty Little Head
words by Stuart Stubbs
Harlem curb crawling jazz mistress, Nellie McKay, has a lot on her shoulders with her second album release. Her debut was an ambitious but accomplished double CD of quick-witted threats and moonlight strolls along Madison Avenue, NYC. ‘Pretty Little Head’ then, confirms that if one person can save the art of lounge bar piano from the evil clutches of Jamie Cullum, McKay is the girl for the job.
Still balancing jitterbug jives with smoky swoons to drink whiskeys to in your hotel suite, McKay offers a little more this time around with guest vocals from Cyndi Lauper and K D Lang (the latter featuring on the gentle plinky plonk of ‘We Had It Right’). But she doesn’t really need the big names. The winking, hat tipping, ‘The Down Low’, sees McKay at her most melodic and eclectic.
Cullum, your days are numbered.
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