ARTIST: Joe Williams
TITLE: Music For Lovers
LABEL: Blue Note Records
GENRE: Jazz
PLAYTIME: 33:46 min
SIZE: 40,4 MB
RIP DATE: Feb-21-2007
Track List
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01 I Only Have Eyes For You 03:02
02 The Very Thought Of You 02:49
03 If I Should Lose You 02:39
04 Always 02:41
05 You Are Too Beautiful 02:46
06 Candy 02:47
07 Say It Isn't So 02:58
08 There's A Small Hotel 02:19
09 It's Easy To Remember 03:02
10 You're A Sweetheart 02:59
11 Stella By Starlight 03:28
12 Moonlight In Vermont 02:16
Release Notes
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Joe Williams' Music for Lovers comes closer to the cocktail
sophistication of Nat King Cole or Billy Eckstine than to any
blues jump or shout to which Williams gave joyous voice as
vocalist with the Count Basie Band.
Perhaps the best part of this material, drawn from WilliamsÆ
1959-63 ballad albums for Roulette Records, is hearing his
profound, inexhaustible voice keeping quiet company with fellow
Basie alumni Harry ôSweetsö Edison (trumpet), Ben Webster (tenor
saxophone), and rhythmist Freddie Green (guitar), plus other
first-rate jazz musicians such as Hank Jones (piano), Milt
Hinton (bass) and drummer Don Lamond (a veteran of Woody
HermanÆs Thundering Herd).
Pristine arrangements by Jimmy Jones and Ernie Wilkins cast
Williams in a courtly voice. From his album Together with
Edison, ôAlwaysö swaps in the rhythm section of Sir Charles
Thompson (piano), Tommy Potter (bass) and Clarence Johnson
(drums); ThompsonÆs solitary piano sparkles against WilliamsÆ
opening verse like sophisticated diamond jewelry, then swings
out some single-note boogie while the horns add their smooth
blues touch. ôSweetsö sings out like his namesake to complete
WilliamsÆ verses in ôI Only Have Eyes for You,ö though the
arrangement, like a chocolate candy, saves the middle break for
WebsterÆs smooth, creamy saxophone. Likewise, WebsterÆs tenor
huskily whispers to counterpoint WilliamsÆ opening verse of ôIf
I Should Lose You,ö tinged with a sadness that allows him to dig
into the blues a little.
In ôStella by Starlight,ö his stately intonation of ôthe murmur
of a brook at eventideö conjures up images as classically rustic
as Walt Whitman. Like WilliamsÆ voice, its closing instrumental
passage flows past as powerful and enduring as ôOld Man River.ö
It just keeps rolling along.