Primo Kim: To Be Near
Fairly rare private press lp from Sacramento, CA (I think) by jazz vocalist/pianist Primo Kim. A good deal of this lp is quiet vocal stuff which didn’t really do much for me, but there are a couple of decent Bossa-y tracks. What really makes this worthy of note however is a good funky jazz instrumental called “Right Turn”.
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I recently bought “To Be Near” and it is one of the better contemporary vocal jazz LP’s I’ve heard. “You’ve Gotta Lotta Love To Give”, “Don’t Be Afraid”, “Why You”, and “How Can I Be Sure” are tasteful soulful and funky numbers with strong vocals. The instrumental “Right Turn” is just the icing on the cake…even the lyric-heavy ballads didn’t have me skipping tracks as Primo’s vocals lured me in…and the man’s voice is pretty damn good. The recording is just a bit lo-fi-ish giving it a perfectly old school Vegas lounge vibe. The players are in tune but never really go overboard, a dash of brass and the whole thing just has this swanky feel to it. Still growing on me upon a few listens. I believe this album is either from Washington or Nevada as he mostly performed in these areas, although he did go to school in California.