Mia Miata
CD – ‘Urban Arias’

-Dave Howell 

On the second cut of this CD, Mia Miata shares her recipe for good music. Her cooking turned out a great CD – Miata certainly knows how to step it up a notch.
The recipe (from the cut “Jazzy Soul a la mode”) is: “Start with a pinch of vibes/Next we add a dash of flutes/Hand me the cup of piano/A tablespoon of saxophone/Preheat the oven/A teaspoon of flamenco guitar/Bass for good measure.”
Amazingly, all the instruments on this CD are played by one person, Kendall Leonard. He also does drums and percussion. On “Be U,” he even provides a horn section. Miata leaves out the most important part in her cooking recital, though--her voice. She does nearly all the lead and background vocals with a clear and endearing voice filled with emotion.
The high point of her singing might be on the title track, which is taken from the traditional spiritual “Lord, How Come Me Here?” Miata sings in an almost classical style, accompanied only by a keyboard-generated string section. The song is beautiful in its simplicity and depth of feeling. 
Some of the songs have New Age-y lyrics, like “Manchild”:”Born as the original man/perfect and pure/Created with the will to endure.” It is difficult to pull off lyrics like this, but Miata does it wonderfully, by delivering them in an easygoing style that makes them seem natural and unpretentious.
“Heavy On Your Mind” is an interesting song, with Miata singing the choruses and reciting the verses like poetry. It is a love song that also celebrates the history of African/American jazz. It sounds a bit much, but it works seamlessly here.
This superb smooth jazz CD (and I generally dislike smooth jazz) should appeal to all fans of vocal jazz and pop music.
Web site at http://www.miamiata.com .

-Dave Howell