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Chante Moore lives the inner diva as she decides to Love the Woman

Chante Moore is another R&B soul singer trying to break through.  While the charts seem to be flooded with hip hop and rap acts, true predecessors to the throne that Motown and Stax made are not as prevalent as they should be.  Sometimes all you need a good vocal and a great beat.  This eleven-track recording gives both and it is called Love The Woman.
 
The disc opens with “Always Gonna be Something” and a light, melodic piano giving away to a strong backbeat from the bass.  The vocals just blend together in a modern day funky diva vibe.  On the flip side, “Can’t do it” is more like a dance track with the chorus of “He’s so perfect for me” Chante glides over the background singers while the rhythm section finds a soul in the mix.  This feels like the big hit single of the recording. 

Some songs like “Special” just flows like thick chocolate over a sundae, bringing a warm feeling to the cool vocal.  “Special” features a great middle bridge with a popping bass and lays down the fattest of grooves.  And “It Ain’t Supposed to be this Way” is basically a torch song with some strong background singing by Shelea Frazier.  “First Kiss” is a beat not heard much in modern music, a bossa nova.  But this little number swings as it sways in a mellow tempo.  The flute solo by Katisse Buckingham is almost Brazil ’88 in feeling.

The song that shows off the best of Chante Moore’s vocal abilities is buried in the middle of the recording “Give Me Time” is a torch song, a strong ballad that just rips the plaster off the walls.  George Duke plays a tasty harp throughout the enterprise and is also responsible for the cascading piano fills that just work magic during the six joyful minutes of pop stylings.  A big plus is that she nails a single note so high it would make a dog’s ears prick up.

Only two songs are actually co-written by Chante Moore.  They are “Love the Woman” and “Love Action”.  The first one comes across as an outtake from the Barry White catalogue.  There is this early 1970’s thump as the moaning whispers slip across the speakers.  This is a making out song and works on that level.  “Love Action” is a basic R&B tune, as slick as it is smooth.  Neither are that strong lyrically but both show promise in songwriting abilities.

If I had to place Chante Moore into a category, I’d put her somewhere between Cassandra Wilson and Queen Latifah (when she actually sings).  The problem with this recording is that it feels too overproduced.  There are too many machines making the music and not individuals.  True soul music need actual soulful musicians putting down the beats, not an impersonal beat machine.  It is a strong effort and not a bad representation of Chante Moore’s abilities. 

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