Funk This [Digipak] (CD - 2007)

Personnel: Chaka Khan (vocals); Jesse Johnson, Natural , Ricky Rouse, Tony Maiden (guitar); Jimmy Jam (Clavinet); Bobby Ross Avila (keyboards, electric bass); James "Big Jim" Wright (keyboards); Aaron Spears (drum); Iz (percussion, drum programming); Luis Conte (percussion).

Chaka Khan is no stranger to reinvention. Initially known as the singer for 1970s funkateers Rufus, she went on to become a solo star, and in the '80s she enjoyed a career resurgence via the hip-hop-inflected smash "I Feel For You." In the late '90s, there was yet another chapter to the Chaka story, with an album masterminded by Prince. FUNK THIS, her first album of original material since that Prince platter, actually follows an album of jazz standards, but as the title implies it brings Khan back home to R&B. The production feels up-to-date without resorting to contemporary tropes, and still bears touches of the '70s and '80s. Alongside percolating new tunes, she reinterprets Prince's "Sign 'o' the Times" and the Carly Simon hit "You Belong to Me" with equal verve. And fear not, that unmatchable voice is still as sinuous, sexy, and soulful as ever. minimize