Trineice Robinson's debut is a winner, shows her obvious talent as a jazz vocalist

Oct. 14—ALL OR NOTHING

The thing about this debut album from 40-year-old vocalist Trineice Robinson is it doesn't sound like a debut album from a 40-year-old vocalist.

Robinson, who also goes by the name of Trineice Robinson-Martin, is a highly skilled singer well-versed in the art of jazz improvisation known as scat, and she's equally adept at singing gospel/Christian, rhythm & blues, rock, country, and pop.

She has a rich, pleasant voice and supreme confidence. I mean, you can tell this is someone who really knows what she is doing, because she does. Robinson has to this point in her career dedicated herself to being a vocal instructor and a student of music.

Robinson is a Princeton University jazz voice instructor, lecturer, and director of its Jazz Vocal Collective Ensemble.

She serves on the national faculty in the academic division of Gospel Music Workshop of America, as the executive director of the African American Jazz Caucus, Inc., as a board director for the Jazz Education Network, on the editorial board of the Journal of Singing, and as a member of the distinguished American Academy of Teachers of Singing.

Beyond those academic credentials, though, Robinson is just a darned good, polished jazz singer.

On this album, she has a strong lineup of musicians who accompany her, including the great pianist Cyrus Chestnut, who performed in Toledo many years ago.

She performs several songs of joy, inspiration, love and depth. Although her rendition of the Marvin Gaye classic, "What's Going On," wasn't as powerful as it could have been, she was good on the Wayne Shorter piece, "Footprints," and especially great on Duke Ellington's "Come Sunday."

Other songs include those written or made familiar by the likes of McCoy Tyner and Natalie Cole. She also does a fine reinterpretation of "You Know Who (I Mean You)," a song by Thelonious Monk, Coleman Hawkins, and Toledo's own father of vocalese, the late Jon Hendricks.

Robinson created Soul Ingredients®, a teaching methodology for developing a singer's musical style/interpretation in African American folk-based music styles.

Her influence as an educator has likely been enormous.

Here's hoping she continues to release more discs.