Nikka Costa

If you’re going to make soul music – joyful, authentic, modern yet classic soul music – it really helps if that music is allowed to come straight from your soul. Pebble To A Pearl, the latest gem by Nikka Costa, is far and away her most direct and convincing musical statement yet. The album is the uplifting sound of an artist unbound following a difficult period with her previous record company. Costa and Justin Mitchell Stanley, producer of Pebble to a Pearl, made up what she calls “our dream band” including the great James Gadson on drums, Shawn Davis on bass, James Poyser and Keefus Green on keyboards, Jason Falkner and Chris Bruce on guitars. “We decided to get back to the roots of recording. We all set up in one room and communicated with each other rather than playing to something that had already been laid down to tape. So in five days we had fifteen songs down. Leave the mistakes and keep the vibe,” Costa recalls.