Canadian soul singer Sean Jones shares an up-tempo new single, Body

Sean Jones has a new single out called Body, and the Canadian singer's route to it started with a classmate raising her hand in a ninth-grade French class. Jones was at his desk humming what he thought was quietly to himself. The classmate heard it, got the teacher's attention and said he could sing, and the teacher called him to the front of the room.

What he sang was Hi-Five's 1991 hit I Like the Way. The reaction from the class settled the question of whether he had a voice worth using. From there he joined In Essence, a Juno Award winning vocal group, before stepping out on his own and sharing stages with Stevie Wonder, Natalie Cole, Macy Gray and Eric Benet.

Body itself is an up-tempo, percussive record, and its subject is straightforward: attraction, and the desire to lavish affection on one particular woman. The arrangement gives Jones room to work the full width of his range, moving from an assertive baritone into a sweeter tenor without the song losing its footing.

The track also reaches back to something he has not leaned on much lately. Toward the end, Jones drops into a rap verse, a reminder that his delivery is not limited to sung lines. It is a short passage, but it changes the shape of the last third of the song and keeps the arrangement from settling into a single mode.

Two Toronto shows are lined up to put the range on display in a room. Jones performs Soul in the City at the historic Casa Loma mansion and museum with a nine-piece band, and follows it with a set built around the Marvin Gaye songbook called The Marvin Experience. Both are pitched as showcases for depth rather than a single promotional gig.

The pairing of a new rnb-soul single with a Gaye tribute is a fair summary of where Jones sits: a singer with a group pedigree who keeps moving between the classic repertoire and his own material. Body is available now, and the release sits alongside the week's other new music on the release calendar.