Sharon Musgrave

Internationally accomplished vocalist SHARON MUSGRAVE is a respected recording artist, songwriter, and endearing entertainer, who toured with jazz pianist Julian Joseph, performing the song “The Other Side of Town” on his first album “Language Of Truth” with a debut performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
Her own Canadian souljazz / smoothjazz release “Selah” shot up to the top 20 on Canada’s Bravo Video Chart Countdown, and earning her a featured spot on the main stage of The Toronto Jazz Festival at Harbourfront Center.
The Sharon Musgrave Jazz Trio is her own musical project. In it, she pays tribute to Souljazz, passionately honing in on the soul music that the stars of the ‘50s and ‘60s brought to the jazz recording industry, adding some originals and Bossa Novas to the mix.
This evening’s singing star SHARON MUSGRAVE features jazz masters TOM FORSYTH on guitar and DAVE FIELD on bass, entertaining in the up-close-and-personal ambience of the Home Smith Bar. - Old Mill Toronto

(January 17, 2018) Whether exercising her effortless voice with house beats or just chilling with a jazz ambience, Sharon Musgrave always finds ways to craft sweet vibes. Those who tracked her earlier career with dance producer William Orbit’s imprint Bassomatic and songwriting/backing vocals contributions for Maxi Priest and others realized there was a solo career on the horizon.

With two impressive full-length offerings in Selah and Outflow, Musgrave’s musicality transcends categories packaged with a welcome mix of world, funk, R&B, and even spoken word. Though the wait for a new project since 2011 might drop the ‘whatever might have happened to’ thoughts, the Canadian native occasionally finds time to find time in the studio for a single or two.

While still waiting patiently for CD number three, Musgrave delivers a quiet Spanish flavored, introspective tale of a mystery man in “Blue Nile:” “He’s fulfilling his desires/ To create an exclusionary zone…He’s fulfilling his desires/Make a sound bold and decisive.” The gently swaying, soulful orchestrations compliments Musgrave’s impeccable storytelling skills. Based on this colorful work of musical art, Musgrave’s fans and the SoulTracks community sincerely look forward when the next full-length comes to fruition.

By Peggy Oliver - Soul Tracks

“Fascinating Rhythm,” not to be mistaken with the George Gershwin jazz standard from the twenties, was a funky diet of soul, jazz and reggae flavors provided by dance producer extraordinaire William Orbit. The voice who graced the U.K. top ten dance hit from 1990 was Sharon Musgrave. After touring to support the Orbit’s Bass-O-Matic project, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Bass and the hit single “Fascinating Rhythm,” the England born, Canadian native found another outlet to demonstrate her earthy vocal tones to the jazz world with Julian Joseph. Thanks to a performance of Curtis Mayfield’s “The Other Side of Town” from Joseph’s Language of Love disc, Musgrave’s collaboration with the pianist led to a tour where they opened for Herbie Hancock and others. Then came her solo debut in 2001 on her Zosar Music imprint – Selah - revealing a riveting mix of jazz sensibility interspersed with spoken word, pop, R&B, blues and folk. No wonder because Musgrave’s inspirations run extremely deep from Bob Marley to Billie Holliday to Joni Mitchell.

Though she has remained musically active for the past several years in her current hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Musgrave finally presents her sophomore Zosar Music release - Outflow – an excellent flow of original tunes mostly co-penned with producer/drummer/percussionist Peter Grimmer that should appeal to commercial and underground audiences. Once again, Musgrave does not disappoint with her musicality backed by her reliable vocal performance. Not surprisingly considering her relationship to the dance community with Orbit and U.K. producer Steve Miller AKA Afterlife (the 2009 single “Fantasy”), there are several remixes of three tracks encompassing different rhythmic styles.

Within Outflow’s diverse selection, Musgrave really excels in the elements of jazz and spoken word. The opening “Beautiful Music” generates an acid jazz feel combining unadulterated soul and swinging mellow guitar and piano grooves. “The Embrace” brings the romance in a classy bossa nova setting, while “Same Old” fuses modern jazz with a hip-hop edge and a colorful solo from trumpeter Troy Dowding. For that funky jazz fix, “Everybody Wants It” features Musgrave honey-dripped scats and a brief vocal/trumpet conversation with Dowding. As for the ultimate highlight, check out Musgrave’s moving spoken word piece – “Inna B Flat” - about navigating through everyday life: “She learns that what was once a struggle becomes food for thought,” The soft jungle beats that accent Musgrave’s rapid fire poetry are courtesy of Grimmer’s impeccable drum and percussion timing.

Other songs of note include the Eastern meets African slow jam – “Why” - with Derek Musgrave on additional backing vocals and Toby Stewart on saxophone; and the soul/folk one-two punch of the title track. Then there are the remixes to consider; the best belonging to the Afternoons in Stereo acoustic jazz/chill out vision and soca jam alternative of “Everybody Wants It” and “Beautiful Music” (Thorority Dub) decorated with gorgeous atmospheric keyboards and funky aftertaste. The latter two are remixed by Thor, who also worked on Musgrave and Afterlife on “Fantasy.”

Outflow is quite the diverse package, yet the track continuity and vocal and instrumental standard is set quite high. Born with fascinating rhythm and the talent to match, Musgrove possesses an incredible love affair with soul, jazz and dance fans.

Peggy Oliver
The Urban Music Scene
- The Jordan Music Group

SHARON MUSGRAVE - OUTFLOW

The former William Orbit colleague fronted the Bass-O-Matic project in the '90's, singing and co-writing on the international hit Fascinating Rhythm and other tracks on two albums. Now she works out of the Hamilton area, and has had a string of projects on her own label the past ten years. Her smooth soul voice fits almost anything, from old school to hiphop to club to jazz, and it's all here, as well as a taste of reggae and soca, and even some of her poetry spoken over a track.

While there's that little bit of everything for lots of styles, most intriguing is Musgrave's positive vibe that links track-to-track. More than feel-good music, it's actually life-affirming and almost spiritual, at least for those whose spirituality comes from believing and loving one's self. And not in some New Age-y or Dr. Phil message; rather it's just simply strength through self-motivation.

With a handful of remixes added on, Outflow will appeal mostly to dance fans with soul leanings. Musgrave and co-producer Peter Grimmer give everything a clean and solid groove, aided by Hamilton guitar monster Brian Griffith, and she adds several compelling stories that will keep you listening at home too. Although you'll be forgiven if you get up and dance by yourself. - Bob Mersereau

Renowned recording artist Sharon Musgrave brings a fusion of soul, jazzy funk and dance material with slick musical accompaniment equipped with positive energy. She’s traveled the world with top notch musicians and wrote a top-10 Pop hit called “Fascinating Rhythm,” with Producer, William Orbit. Traveling musically has given her enough experience and confidence to entertain you with a passion for people and song.

If you’re anything like me, and you wonder where all the good music has gone, aghast at the ever-increasing paucity of deep meaningful soul and the ever-increasing dominance of superficial, gimmicky R&B, then Sharon Musgrave’s 15-track album, “OUTFLOW” might reassure you. Sharon’s lineage is not only clear in her warm vocal tone, style and phrasing but also in the kind of music she chooses to make.
Sharon Musgrave has been compared to many other songstresses. In my opinion it should be the other way around. Sharon is the standard to which others of the modern-era era should be compared. Her performance is flawless and the music compliments and provides the perfect back-dropped balance and contrast against her beautiful timbre. The fact that she is able to do move between jazz, soul or funky compositions without compromising her own unique musical identity is a testament to her wonderful craft. But, the bottom line is Sharon is not bound by any labels – call it rnb, soul, jazz or whatever – she knows just what to do and how to do it. Her voice alone is enough to melt you!

Having never heard her previous albums so richly praised by critics and fans, “OUTFLOW” is a breathtaking awakening. The beautiful Sharon is different from her colleagues in many ways and it is this difference that makes her singing so unique. There are 4 songs on this consistently fine album that stand out as examples of her qualities of bringing both fine musicianship -which includes an uncanny ability to find the center pitch of the notes she sings, and arching a musical line to trace the most direct mode of communicating the lyrics linked to the melody and her almost self-assured sense of being an extraordinary performer: ‘Good Feelings’, ‘Beautiful Ones, ‘Why’ and ‘Overflow’. Not that she is in any way unsuccessful in the rest of this fine set of performances. It is simply that in these 4 vocal works; Sharon seems to rise out of the accompaniment mode and enters the atmosphere of great communication. - soundlooks.com