Every now and then, a true quality chanteuse will appear on the music scene. Following in the footsteps of fellow California sirens Lavay Smith and Cassie Miller, Rebecca Kyler Downs has finally emerged in her own right from the band Red & the Red Hots with her new CD, Love Me Like Candy. Kyler Downs' first solo release with her new band Strictly Ornamental is masterfully arranged by Christopher Brady and the legendary boogie woogie piano king Red Young. The young singer coos the opening title track so sweetly that it will take your breath away-as it did for the producers of Roswell on the WB, who picked up the song for the show's soundtrack this season. The album features five other originals, including the burlesque-styled "Bernaise" and the heartbreaking "Belle Epoque."

Kyler Downs melts you through her smooth sultry vocals in her recreation of Duke Ellington's "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good" and follows it up by belting out her own "Boogie with the Bad Cats." Other standouts on this recording are the popular standard "Dream a Little Dream of Me," Cole Porter's "Love for Sale" and Sondheim's "Sooner or Later" (which you might remember Madonna singing in the movie Dick Tracy). A true pleasure, Rebecca Kyler Downs' Love Me Like Candy is a modern masterpiece that blends sultry vocals with near perfect jazz and modern big band arrangements.

www.rebeccakylerdowns.com