1. I’ll Never Be the Same
2. My Ideal
3. Medley: Don’t Take You Love From Me/I Never
Had a Chance
4. Music, Maestro, Please!
5. If I Love Again
6. Why Did I Choose You?
7. Once in a While
8. You Leave Me Breathless
9. There Are Such Things
10. You Could Hear a Pin Drop
11. How Do You Say Auf Wiedersehen?
Freddy Cole – Vocals
Bill Charlap – Piano
Peter Washington – Bass (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5,
7-11)
Kenny Washington – Drums (tracks 1, 2, 4,
5, 7-11)
Freddy
Cole has always lived in the shadow of his
elder brother, Nat, and indeed of his niece,
Natalie. Yet he has a pleasant voice and can
accompany himself efficiently at the piano.
On this album he leaves the piano duties to
Bill Charlap, who accompanies him with tasteful
discretion, with subdued support from Peter
and Kenny Washington (no relations!). And
the repertoire is healthily unhackneyed, including
little-known songs like Irving Berlin’s I
Never Had a Chance and Johnny Mercer’s
How Do You Say Auf Wiedersehen?
It
all sounds promising, so why am I somewhat
disappointed? I know that Freddy specialises
in gentle sentimental songs but most of the
songs are very much on the same level: slow
ballads, except for There Are Such Things,
which allows Bill Charlap to take a bluesy
piano solo. In fact Charlap’s playing is the
highlight of this CD and I would have liked
to have heard more of him.
Freddy
Cole’s voice is certainly attractive - similar
to brother Nat’s but also comparable to Tony
Bennett’s slightly gruffer latter-day style.
However, Freddy seems to rely on beauty of
tone to gloss over his vague intonation. His
pitching is so approximate that it sometimes
approaches sprechgesang. If you don’t
already know the songs on the album, you’ll
be unlikely to go away humming them, even
after several listens, as Freddy masks the
melodies with his imprecise delivery. It’s
a pity, as otherwise the album has so much
going for it - particularly the impeccable
accompanying trio.
Tony
Augarde
CD Reviews
HighNote
HCD 7168
