CD Review: Clifton Davis with The Beegie Adair Trio – Never Can Say Goodbye

I'll simply quote from the promotional material sent with the CD "The album is lush and romantic, burnished by Davis' smooth, warm voice and Adair's laid back, virtuosic piano playing. String arrangements add to the music's dreamy sonority."

That is all so true and enjoyable and I'd put the music in the category of 'middle of the road', very fine if that is to your taste. I prefer music with rather more 'bite'. The nearest it comes to jazz is in the very competent piano solos and the very effective bass solo on Too Marvellous. Davis is a skilled singer with a warm-toned voice but he uses little improvisation, so maybe he isn't a jazz singer, although that term is open to interpretation.

The album comprises three of Davis' own songs, a song by Adair and eight standards. Five of the tunes have a pleasant Latin feel and the most interesting song is the final track Leaving It Up To You. I expected this to be a love song, but it is a song about the will of God. Davis is a minister of religion, who always includes one song about God on his albums. Somewhere in the Hills also caught my attention especially, as it had a strong Samba beat with lively rhythmical percussion.

Davis is also a TV actor who has starred on Broadway, and he wrote the well-known pop song Never Can Say Goodbye (track 2). He has been in show business for most of his working life. For instance he played the Sultan in Aladdin on Broadway and he performed for 16 months in the National Broadway Tour of the musical Wicked.

The Beegie Adair trio has sold 2 million albums and has performed internationally. Davis met Adair in 2015 and they decided to collaborate on this album. Adair solos on piano on each track.

The album is available from www.cliftondavis.com 

Ann Alex

Clifton Davis (vocals); Beegie Adair (piano); Roger Spencer( trio arrangements, bass); Chris Brown (drums); Monica Ramey (vocals 1 track); Jeff Taylor (accordion); Mark Kibble (backing vocals and arrangements); Take 6 (backing vocals 1 track); Kevin Toney (synth, strings and arrangements); Charles Mims (string arrangements, synth, sweetening); plus string players and arrangers

I've Never Been In Love Before; Never Can Say Goodbye; Two For The Road; Swept Away: The Folks Who Live On The Hill; Too Marvellous; So Many Stars; Comecar De Novo; Somewhere In The Hills; Teach Me Tonight; Minha Alma; Leaving It Up To You