Emotional.
smoothjazz_views | Beverly Hills, CA | 07/09/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"American singer/saxist Curtis Stigers is plenty more than the easy-listening artist it's easy to typecast him as, though this album - mixing originals and classics by the likes of Emmylou Harris, Tom Waits, Randy Newman and Mose Allison - may be the first of his to prove it beyond doubt.
His laconic, sandpaper tones are complemented by his funk-sax sound and deft contributions from soloists including trumpeter John Sneider and keys-player and arranger Larry Goldings, the latter transferring a role he has powerfully played for Madeleine Peyroux.
Stigers' eloquence with a heartache song is oddly enhanced by the unexpected accordion on "I Only Want to Be With You"; he follows Goldings' Hammond-funk intro with a performance of haunting inflections and curling high notes on Emmylou Harris's "I Don't Wanna Talk About It Now"; and delivers some effective soul-sax lamenting in Tom Waits' "San Diego Serenade".
The offhand ambiguities of Paul Simon's "American Tune", and Randy Newman's "Real Emotional Girl" show how far Stigers has come."
Smooth sailing
Nikica Gilic | Zagreb, Croatia | 09/23/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Not a bad mix of jazz and pop-music; something like a modernized Frank Sinatra, but with a more emotion in the voice and a bit more variety in arrangements (not better than Sinatra-only different).
The choice of songs is excellent and this is really highly recomended music for romantic evenings or as background for a dinner-party. I would personally prefer a bit more spice and swing, but this is still nice."