Most of
Mike Stern's albums have been 100 percent instrumental; as a rule, he doesn't use vocalists because his guitar does all of the "singing." But
Voices is an exception -- a highly engaging and memorable exception. This surprising and totally unexpected effort finds a 48-year-old
Stern using wordless vocals in a manner that brings to mind fellow fusion guitarists
Pat Metheny and
Al DiMeola. Think of
Metheny on Letter From Home and Still Life (Talking), or
DiMeola on Orange and Blue, and one will know the type of approach that
Stern is going for this time. While the wordless vocals that
Stern uses on
Voices add a lot to the album, his guitar is still the focal point. This isn't the type of project in which the leader brings in an acclaimed jazz singer like
Dianne Reeves or
Kitty Margolis and features her prominently on standards -- that isn't what he was going for. Ultimately, the vocalists who
Stern employs (who include
Arto Tuncboyaciyan and Elizabeth Kantomanou) are there to serve and compliment his guitar. If
Voices were a cake, the vocalists would be the icing; the album still would have been meaningful even without them, but there's no doubt that they add a lot to it.
Voices, which contains some of
Stern's most lyrical and melodic playing, is full of world music influences. African and Spanish elements are incorporated, and Brazilian music is an especially strong influence. Going back to the
Metheny and
DiMeola comparisons, this album's world music influences will inevitably inspire comparisons to similar albums by those fellow fusion guitarists. But
Stern is always his own man and his guitar playing never fails to sound distinctive --
Voices is most definitely a
Mike Stern session. It's also one of the finest albums in his catalog. ~ Alex Henderson