CD Review. Curtis Stigers - Let's go Out Tonight.

Curtis Stigers has been, and still is, many things. There was the rock and roll icon, the jazz singer/saxophone player and latterly the crooner on The Proms cosying up to his "legit" contemporaries. With Stigers what you see isn't always what you get!

This latest CD, for me, shows off his voice at its best. The slow, husky croak of a man who isn't tired of life but maybe just a little bit blasé. He's not Tom Waits but he isn't Frank either. Comparisons could be drawn with Sinatra's Only The Lonely  - the same feeling of sadness prevails.

However, Stigers is of a different generation and his choice of songs include ones from the pens of such post gasbook poets as Bob Dylan (Things Have Changed), Eddie Floyd (Oh How It Rained), Jeff Tweedy (You Are Not Alone), Neil Finn (Into Temptation), Stevie Earle (Goodbye), David Poe (Every One Loves Lovers) and Blue Nile's Let's Go Out Tonight. It's very listenable and ideal Wee Small Hours material - particularly if you've had a fall-out with your woman and failed to find solace in the arms of the recently divorced housewife next door but one - a hypothetical situation I hasten to add!
Curtis doesn't play much, if any, sax but there are some nice Miles/Chet trumpet obligatos and even a touch of Bubber Miley from an unnamed player (on my copy).

In many ways Curtis reminds me of  Madeleine Peyroux  inasmuch as, by mid album, a variation of tempo would have been a nice change from the superb but sometimes monotonous rhythm..
Nevertheless, it is well done and the tracks on the CD are very listenable although not necessarily in one go. I'm sure many of these same numbers will be appreciated by the crowd when he reprises them at the Sage Gateshead International Jazz Festival on March 25 which just happens to be the day before the album's.official release on March 26 although it can be pre-ordered on Amazon £8.99 post free.

Lance.