- Getting Some Fun Out of Life
- Blame It on My Youth
- Because of You
- All For You (Nuages)
- If I Ruled the World
- What are You Afraid Of?
- You’re My Thrill
- I Got Lost in her arms
- The Gentle Rain
- If We Never Meet Again
Freddie Cole - Vocals
Houston Person - Tenor
John Di Martino - Piano
Peter Washington - Bass
Kenny Washington - Drums
Steve Kroon - Percussion
Freddie Cole is neither a
Tony Bennett or a Nat Cole, but he is a quality
singer and his performance on this record
is admirable. He has the benefit of a superb
rhythm section and with Houston Person around
to play some delightful tenor saxophone, the
whole album is one long delight.
The selection of tunes is
also interesting, the Lady Day classic, Getting
Some Fun Out of life, a Burke & Leslie
composition gets the album off to a swinging
start and the Levant & Heyman tune, Blame
it on My Youth continues in a similar groove
but at a slower tempo.
Houston Person solos faultlessly
throughout, but also demonstrates his ability
in an accompanying role to support Freddie’s
vocals. Freddie usually plays the piano himself
on his gigs and he is a more than competent
performer on the instrument, but he frequently
uses top jazz pianists on his recording sessions.
John Di Martino lives up to the legacy of
his predecessors in that dept., Cedar Walton,
Hank Jones, Larry Willis and Cyrus Chestnut
are not easy guys to follow, but his support
in terms of the arrangements and the piano
playing help in no small measure to make this
a ’high quality’ album.
The sleeve note mentions
that bonhomie abounded in the studio for these
sessions, it’s the kind of thing that can
happen when top session players like Peter
& Kenny Washington are present and everyone
is enjoying the work and making their contribution.
If I Ruled the World from
the musical Pickwick, is not the kind of tune
that jazzmen usually head for, but Freddie,
Houston and the rhythm section treat it with
great sympathy….and swing. There is a touch
of Billy Eckstine in What are you Afraid Of.
Unfortunately many of the
quality singers of this type of music are
no longer with us, though thankfully Tony
Bennett is. I am pleased that Freddie Cole
is also still around and producing albums
of quality songs in the company of some of
the best musicians you are likely to hear.
If you are a fan of quality
vocal albums, don’t miss this one, it has
an excellent sleeve note written by pianist/vocalist
Eric Comstock and the sound quality is perfection
personified.
Don Mather
CD Reviews
HighNote HCD 7156
