Zone

Over 20 years, Chris Walker has occasionally put down his bass, which he plays in jazz groups, and taken up a microphone to record R&B albums; Zone is his fourth such effort and his first in six years. A good indication of his intentions is provided by his inclusion of "If Only for One Night," the Brenda Russell composition that became a signature song for Luther Vandross. It was also recorded by the duo of Roberta Flack and Peabo Bryson, and Walker clearly wants to be a successor to singers like Vandross and Bryson, a silky, soulful tenor murmuring and squealing romantic words to an unseen paramour. Such a musical loverman serves as the ideal version of everywoman's boyfriend or husband, saying to her the things the real men never do. "Let me cater to you," Walker oozes early on in "Everyday Woman," "I just wanna give you love, baby, just because you're special." When the singer has the lover he desires, all is well, but somehow the path of love sometimes isn't straight, and when things aren't going well, Walker is suitably agonized in songs like "Off My Mind (Free My Mind)" and "Wish We Never Met." Soon enough, however, things are all right again and he's back to declaring "I Got That Love" and "I Want You." Walker updates the ‘80s sound of Vandross and Bryson for the hip-hop era, employing familiar contemporary R&B elements such as a slow, pronounced drumbeat, an acoustic guitar, and busy background vocal parts. So, this isn't a throwback; it's a present-day reinvention of romantic soul music that will make female listeners hope Walker never goes back to his bass.