*** 1/2 Incognito

BENEATH THE SURFACE

(Talkin' Loud/Verve Forecast)

These grooves are reminiscent of -- and as satisfying as -- the jazz-funk created on earlier Incognito CDs: Tribes, Vibes, and Scribes and Positivity. But Beneath the Surface is less retro and more soulful. It's more about brass musings, washes of strings, and the thoughtful introspection of acoustic guitars than about the chunky electric-guitar riffs, keyboard washes, and Latin motifs of those albums. It's Sunday-morning church after a long Saturday night of sin.

Incognito always have the chops to get an instrumental groove going, as on "She Wears Black" and "Dark Side of the Cog." But the best songs here are about love -- lost, reclaimed, denied, reveled in. It's on these cuts -- the title tune, "Misunderstood," and "Shade of Blue" -- that Incognito hit the greatest emotional intensity. They also mark the return of Maysa Leak, whose hickory-smoked vocals, whether scatting or belting, are sumptuous.

-- Lacy Jackson