Singin' and Swingin'

Singin' and Swingin' Artist: Joey DeFrancesco
Label: Concord Records
Category: Music



Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 013431486121
EAN: 0013431486121
ASIN: B00005MKGG


Release Date: 2001-08-14

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Tracks:

  1. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
  2. Mr. Dennis Houlihan
  3. They Say It's Wonderful
  4. Did You Hear Him Holler?
  5. Mack The Knife
  6. One Mint Julep
  7. In The Wee Small Hours
  8. I Thought About You
  9. The Sidewalk Is Wild
  10. Let Me Love You Tonight
  11. Kansas City
  12. Danny Boy
  13. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You

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  5. Plays Sinatra His Way

Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars Sinatra, he's not.......2002-05-12

I've been a fan of Joey's ever since his first album. I find his albums, generally, to be interesting, but rarely exceptional. With this CD, possibly his worst, he is doing what his mentor Jack McDuff warned him NOT to do: sing. Usually, I'm interested in instrumentalists who decide to sing a few vocals, just to hear how their talent transfers to vocalizing, but not Joey D. I saw him in concert a few years ago and he sang (poorly), and ended up apologizing to the audience for his various voice cracklings. He is the owner of a thin, nasally singing voice, and his style consists strictly of trying to emulate Frank Sinatra, in a different way than his contemporary and fellow Sinatra worshipper Harry Connick, but equally as unsuccessful. In fact he's worse than Connick because he adds in the 'hip & groovy' Sinatra/Darin-isms (as on Mack The Knife) that always sound awful when anyone but Frank does them. All that's missing are the Vegas fingersnaps, and Joey could be the new Wayne Newton. He has no power and no pipes; he relies on the 'tender, whispery' approach for ballads and the 'hepcat' approach for most uptempos. Joey is no Sinatra, a fact some kind soul should whisper in his ear before he decides to sing again. I found all the tunes with vocals on this CD to be less than delightful, to say the least. As I said, I am a fan of his, but the guy is making it harder and harder to want to spend the money on his music.

The instrumentals, which comprise about half the album, are decent, but again, they are unspectacular (for the most part). But, any time you have the great Paul Bollenback and Joey together, there's going to be something good that comes out of the session. I can't recall if Joey played the trumpet on this one, but I'll take this opportunity to advise him to stay away from that too. His trumpet playing is stultifyingly boring without exception, yet he insists on playing it on a couple tunes on many of his records. He's another Miles emulator, with not even a fingertipful of Miles' talent. McDuff wasn't kidding when he told him to stay away from anything but organ playing. Joey is awesome on his main instrument and should follow the path of the other organ greats who were successful: stick to the organ (real B3, not MIDI), and vary the albums by the *choice of tunes*, *drawbar settings*, and *players*, not by trying to be a dual instrumentalist and singer. Groove Holmes, for example, never sang a note or picked up a wind instrument, yet he created dozens of satisfying, burning albums. Joey's not really that kind of player though; he tries to expand his horizons, an idea worth exploring for some people, but apparently not for him. He's getting into boring, almost modal jazz, using the same band every time, his sound is getting very stale, and in my opinion, it's time to get back to his specialty - burning.

I don't want to imply that this CD is wretched, it's not - there are a couple interesting tracks - but if Joey really wants to sing, he should either change his style or work with a vocal coach, because despite the fact that his heart is definitely in the right place and he's a sincere singer, his vocals are annoying and incompetent.

5 out of 5 stars One of the TOP50 Jazz albuns ever !!!.......2001-12-11

Joey is simply superb!
As a Jazz pianist, I can't give less than 5 stars, although this album deserves a hundred stars.
I think it's about time we have a meeting between Joey DeFrancesco and Oscar Peterson. It would be double Incredible!!
BUY IT !!!

5 out of 5 stars Unbelievable - the top.......2001-11-11

We are very happy to be able to listen to this album, it is a real pleasure for a keyboard player to hear it but I think not only for him, everybody have to appreciate it.

Yours sincerely, Peter Kuhn, keyboard teacher

5 out of 5 stars "Concord takes DeFrancesco to the next level...outstanding!".......2001-09-01

Listen as Joey sings ~ "MACK THE KNIFE", great rendition...with Ray Brown giving out with his familiar bass line, the whole band swings into a groove that will send you...each tune has that certain something...reminds you of Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Harry Connick Jr., Mel Torme, Vic Damone and Nat "King" Cole, smooth swingin' tempo delivery...keeps your foot tapping without you even knowing it...great stuff!

Joey is brilliant on the Hammond B-3 organ, kept the organ in jazz alive and well...the sounds that he invents are unbelievable, strictly original from previous outings with ~ "Joey DeFrancesco's Goodfellas" (1999) and "Incredible" (2000), both Concord label releases.

But this album has some stand outs ~ "LET ME LOVE YOU TONIGHT", great vocal and instrumental highlight by Joey, swings effortlessly..."I'M GETTING SENTIMENTAL OVER YOU", tones flow like a babbling-brook, gives this tune a whole-new-meaning...but my favorite and highlight is ~ "DANNY BOY", Joey reaches deep down into the very soul of this piece, and you know instantly he's got you, very reminiscent of the late Gene Harris style on piano, the very soul of music comes through and touches you.

The big band arrangements are awesome by Horace Ott, all trio arrangements by Joey DeFrancesco and thanks to Concord Records for having the foresight in releasing this heavily influenced sound of the '40s, when the bands were king and the thing that made music our favorite past time!

Total Time: 60:44 on 13 Tracks ~ Concord Jazz CCD-4861-2 ~ (2001)

Music CD:

  1. Going Places ~ Joe Morello
  2. The Illinois Jacquet Story ~ Illinois Jacquet
  3. Masada: Live in Middelheim ~ Masada
  4. Front and Center ~ Frederic Yonnet
  5. Remembrance ~ Kenny Drew Jr. Trio
  6. Soul Legacy ~ Curtis Mayfield
  7. The Labor of Love ~ Ken Navarro
  8. Portraits of Duke Ellington ~ Joe Pass
  9. Half Moon Bay ~ Warren Nunes
  10. Panorama: Live at Village Vanguard ~ Jim Hall

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

No One Loves You ~ Dru Down

The Electric Prunes: I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night) ~ The Electric Prunes

You Are My Sister ~ Antony & The Johnsons , and Boy George

Shouts Across the Street ~ Alan Price

Fighting the Moon ~ D'Arey October

Cambridge

Tired of Waking Up Tired: The Best of The Diodes ~ The Diodes

Vol. 1-Savage Mixtape

Pain ~ Bumble B.H.E.

Born to Mack ~ Too Short