| Jazz |
Summary: With Love Comes First, veteran lyricist Mark Winkler steps into focus as a subtle, deeply expressive jazz vocalist. Blending classic influences with modern sensitivity, he delivers a carefully arranged, intimate album where storytelling, balance, and understated emotion take center stage.
Mark Winkler – Love Comes First: A Refined, Story-Driven Jazz Vocal Album
Mark Winkler. For a lot of people, especially if you’re from Europe, the name’s been floating around for years, popping up on liner notes with folks like Randy Crawford or Dianne Reeves. He’s a lyricist first, a sort of behind-the-scenes figure who’s built a solid catalogue without much fuss. And yet, even though this is his twenty-third album, I hadn’t really sat down and listened to his music until now. Love Comes First changed that for me. The album feels like a quiet discovery, thoughtful, full of careful arrangements, and led by a voice that calls Michael Franks to mind now and then. But Winkler’s music swings in its own direction: more substance, deeply rooted in jazz, and unmistakably his own.
Winkler wrote most of these lyrics, and he situates himself right in the pocket between eras. You can hear echoes of classic jazz singers, sure, but there’s a modern energy in how he puts things together, like the words and the music aren’t competing, they’re equals. That’s what makes the record hang together the way it does. The music breathes. There are a subtle stretch and snap in his phrasing, and sometimes you catch a hint of Ray Charles underneath it all, a nod to the older language of jazz and soul, but never stuck in imitation. He’s comfortable shifting from the deep roots of African American music to the softer, shapeshifting edges of jazz. And through it all, he keeps a steady equilibrium: his singing and the instruments each get room. The result is music that feels relaxed but never lazy, carefully assembled without sounding stiff.
Some songs glow with the vibe of the ‘80s, maybe even further back, but the arrangements keep everything planted in the present. The piano gives a clear, clean backbone to the harmony, while brushed drums add intimacy, not just rhythm. The bass warms everything up from below, never clashing for attention, and the horns drop in just enough color to keep things lively without drowning anybody out. It’s all done with the kind of attention you find in the best jazz vocal records today, think Kurt Elling or Cécile McLorin Salvant, where old traditions and new ideas trade places all the time. And every so often, Winkler’s easygoing style hints at Frank Sinatra at his most relaxed: playful, natural.
But there’s more to Winkler than just his albums. He’s been behind some long-running shows in the American musical theater world, he wrote the lyrics for the offbeat hit Naked Boys Singing! and co-created Too Old for the Chorus, which ran in cities like Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Diego. His jazz noir musical, Play It Cool, picked up Critics’ Choice in the L.A. Times and made a splash at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. All that stage experience filters right into Love Comes First. When Winkler sings, he’s not just delivering tunes, he’s telling stories, embodying characters, connecting every track to the next like scenes in a play. There’s an emotional arc to this album: shades of love, memories, and quiet reflection push and pull without ever getting overdramatic.
His lyrics add even more depth. Winkler goes for simplicity over flourishes, so his lines sound natural but still ring with a low-key poetry. You feel his themes, time slipping by, love found again, those small moments that somehow linger and matter. Even stripped of embellishment, there’s a closeness to his writing, intimate without being sappy, just honest and deeply human.
Look at his take on “Mona Lisa.” Everyone knows it from Nat King Cole, but here it’s got something theatrical, like Winkler re-dressed it for the stage and then brought it back into the studio. His phrasing adds a new tension, suddenly the old melody feels fresh, like he’s inviting you in on a secret.
After more than twenty years of making records, Winkler’s skill shows up in every detail, what songs made the cut, how they’re ordered, how they flow. The album never drags, each track leading naturally to the next, so that when it’s over it almost feels too short. That isn’t a complaint, just a sign of how tightly he’s put it all together.
In the bigger picture, Love Comes First fits right into the ongoing changes in jazz vocal music, where artists constantly blur the lines between old and new. Style boundaries keep fading, now, musicians borrow as much from the past as they want and mix it with something fresh. Winkler proves that expressiveness and grace are still the beating heart of jazz singing.
When all’s said and done, this album feels personal, but it also tips its hat to the whole tradition of jazz vocals. Interpretation is the art here; nuance matters more than flash. The real magic is in how voice and lyrics meet, holding a balance that lasts long after the music stops.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, April 28th 2026
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To buy this album (May 1st, 2026)
Musicians :
Vocals: Mark Winkler
Piano: Rique Pantoja
Bass: Nando Raio
Drums: Jimmy Branly
Fluegelhorn: Mike Stevers
Guitar/Arranger/Producer: Dori Amarilio
Track Listing :
Shappin’ On The 2 and 4
Love Comes First
Fame Adjecent
More Than You Know
Embraceable You
Why Are People so Stupid?
Nobody Else But Me
Everything But You
Mona Lisa
Just in Time
Do You Ever Wonder