| Smooth Jazz |
The first notes arrive quietly, piano, a measured groove, and then Lindsey Webster’s voice, warm and unhurried, settling into the melody with the assurance of someone who knows exactly what she wants to say. It is the kind of opening that makes you pause, turn up the volume, and let the morning, or the evening, wait a moment longer.
If Motown still existed in its classic form, it is not difficult to imagine Webster among its most distinctive voices. Instead, she releases her new album on the respected smooth-jazz label Shanachie, continuing a career that has steadily built both a devoted audience and critical recognition within the contemporary jazz and soul landscape. Over the past decade, her recordings have charted regularly on Billboard’s smooth-jazz rankings, and her collaborations with producers and instrumentalists across the genre have gradually broadened her musical vocabulary. For listeners who have followed her work closely, particularly those who have been hearing her on Bayou Blue Radio for years, her authenticity and her capacity for reinvention have become defining traits.
Something has changed since her previous album. On this new release, Webster allows herself lyrical flights that at moments recall the phrasing and ease of George Benson, while embracing a soul-funk jazz sensibility that feels both confident and newly energized. Yet Music in Me may be her most personal recording to date, and that intimacy likely reflects her creative method: Webster has never rushed her work, preferring to let songs mature before bringing them into the studio. The album bears the marks of that patience. Its arrangements are carefully shaped, its production choices deliberate, and its overall arc suggests a project that has been lived with as much as composed.
Why the title Music in Me? Webster offers a simple and revealing answer: “Music is my best friend… I’ve always leaned on it. It has always been an escape. In many ways, it saved me.”
Attempts to place Webster neatly within a single tradition often miss the point. She does not follow established formulas so much as inhabit each musical moment with a perspective that is unmistakably her own. Soul influences that once appeared only in passing now form a central thread in the album’s sound, bringing to mind, in spirit, the immediacy and emotional clarity that characterized Alicia Keys’ early work.
The production, too, reflects contemporary soul aesthetics. Webster’s voice is occasionally layered or subtly processed, but these choices serve the atmosphere of the songs rather than distracting from them. The rhythmic foundations, supple bass lines, restrained but expressive drumming, and keyboards that move easily between jazz voicings and R&B textures,give the record a sense of cohesion and flow.
The album also marks a first in Webster’s discography: the inclusion of duets. Collaborating with another vocalist had long been one of her ambitions, and she fulfills that wish twice on what she calls her “seventh lucky album.”
“It’s a true blessing to have the presence of two absolute icons,” she says. “I’ve been singing ‘Po’ Folks’ since 2003, when I first discovered Anthony. We all wondered whether Charlene would ever come home. And then there’s the fact that Stokley agreed not only to sing but also to play drums and percussion on the album. I feel incredibly fortunate, especially after living with so much pain for so long.”
Several tracks stand out for the clarity of their musical identity. “The Truth Is Never Told,” perhaps the most striking piece on the record, unfolds over a restrained groove that allows Webster’s melodic sense to take center stage. The arrangement is deceptively simple, subtle harmonic shifts, a gently insistent rhythm section, and a vocal line that carries both introspection and quiet strength. It exemplifies one of Webster’s enduring gifts: the ability to balance emotional depth with lightness of touch, to reflect without ever becoming heavy-handed.
Recent changes in Webster’s personal life, including a divorce and a subsequent remarriage, appear to have played a role in shaping the emotional landscape of the album. Yet it would be premature to define this period of her career as a fixed stylistic direction. A careful listening suggests that Music in Me is less a destination than a turning point, an album that reveals traces of future explorations still to come. Webster’s art has always drawn nourishment from lived experience, and each chapter of her life, large or small, seems to leave an imprint on the music that follows.
Listeners familiar with her earlier recordings may notice the shift immediately, and they would do well to approach the album with open ears. Rooted in a contemporary sound yet grounded in artistic sincerity, Music in Me stands as one of the most compelling statements of her career so far.
And when the final track fades, what remains is not only the echo of a voice or a melody, but the quiet conviction that music, at its best, does exactly what Webster says it has done for her, it stays, it sustains, and, sometimes, it saves.
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, February 11th 2026
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Track Listing:
Music In Me
Time On You
Simple
Serenity Prayer
Homewrecker
Ode To Mary Jane
The Truth Is Never Told
Eternal Angel
What Is Meant To Be
Cali
The Best In Me
Two Hearts
Music In Me (Reprise)