Angela Hagenbach

Music for laying your woman/man/transgendered individual down by the fire usually isn't known for its subtlety. When Marvin Gaye wanted to get it on, he wrote "Let's Get It On." Trent Reznor tossed aside foreplay to scream something about wanting to fuck you like an animal. Even Barry White, the king of Music to Pimp By, didn't exactly beat around the bush with his hot-buttered odes to feats between the sheets. Angela Hagenbach, on the other hand, isn't overtly sexual, even though she could make "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" hot and bothered on the basis of her silky pipes alone. The Kansas City chanteuse adds exotic flavor to the city's lineage of jazz sirens by harnessing South American sensuality, smoothing it over with her sultry vocal range and adding caliente dashes of Latin instrumentation. On Poetry of Love, the singer and a large roster of musicians fuse elements of traditional and Latin jazz into warm butter. Aficionados might be disappointed by the lack of original material -- only three originals appear on the album -- but aficionados will also probably be the only people who will notice or care. This is background music for wet and steamy endeavors. Like washing dishes. What did you think I was talking about?