Roberta Flack

Voluminous afros and sensitive women at the piano are again all the rage, so it's high time to take another listen to Ms. Flack's amazing debut. Calm, cool, and collected, Flack's spellbinding, ocean-deep songs are so addictive you'll want to hear more from subsequent albums like Chapter Two and Quiet Fire.

With the appearance of her first album a little less than a year ago, Roberta Flack
immediately established herself as worthy to enter the pantheon with the two other truly
great black female singers of the Sixties, Aretha and Nina Simone. It is impossible to classify
her. She is not a "soul" singer like Aretha, who emphasizes gospel rhythms and blues
harmonies. She is not a shouter like Aretha, either. She is not a jazz musician, as... More >