BOZ SCAGGS: Speak low

BOZ SCAGGS
Boz Scaggs (William Royce Scaggs, nascido em 8 de Junho de 1944 em Canton, Ohio) é cantor, compositor e guitarrista. Conheceu seu maior amigo e mentor, Steve Miller, no "St. Mark's School of Texas", em Dallas. Em 1959, se tornou vocalista da banda de Miller, a "The Marksmen". Mais tarde, a dupla passou pela "University of Wisconsin-Madison", tocando em bandas de "blues" como "The Ardells" e "The Fabulous Knight Trains". Deixando a escola, saiu do Texas e foi juntar-se à cena de "rhythm and blues" em Londres. Depois foi para a Suécia, onde gravou, em 1965, o seu primeiro trabalho solo "Boz". De volta a São Francisco, em 1967, reencontrou Miller e se incorporou à "Steve Miller's Band". BS gravou dois excelentes álbuns ("Speak low" e "But beautiful")cantando standards, acompanhado por arranjos instrumentais jazzísticos.
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BOZ SCAGGS
Having done blues, R&B, slick pop music and combinations of the three, maybe it was just time, but the latest singer to tackle the repertoire of the American Popular Songbook is none other the Scaggs, with the release of this .... It's a mellow album, and it is done with a jazz band. There are no attempts to take ... and modernize it. The songs are done in a sincere, tender style, backed by a jazz group with pianist Paul Nagel as the point man. He's also the guy that encouraged Scaggs to try this classic music. Scaggs, who's now 65 and still performs his pop hits with another group of musicians, says he is simply a singer who is moving into new ground, but he is not a jazz singer. "It's a record of standards for me. I'm not a jazz singer. The guys I work with are solid jazz players," he says. "I am not a jazz singer. I wouldn't place myself on that footing. I wouldn't even enter that arena. The lyrics of the all-ballad disc are sung straightforward, with pregnant pauses between phrases. Not much improvisation - no flights of fancy—but a delivery that's pleasing to the ears and not out of character with the song. The music is delivered in good fashion. The band is very supportive and the disc is solid. Scaggs is serious about the music. He doesn't plan for it to be a gimmick record. He has a tour ready with this jazz band, and he also hopes to do more CDs of this classic American songbook. "I'm a singer primarily. I've just been following my instincts. I was a guitar player first off. So I followed my interests in the guitar wherever it took me. I listened to classical guitar and Spanish guitar, as well as jazz guitar players, rock and roll and blues. All of it. I did the same thing with my voice. "My earliest influences were things I heard in my household. My parents were music lovers and collectors. It was around. You don't have to go too far out of the way to be familiar with hundreds and hundreds of these songs. I've been listening to all kinds of music, including jazz, ever since I was a kid in the mid-50s. I have listened to all the singers, many of whom have performed this work. It's been around. I guess my blues background has led me to singers like Ray Charles and Bobby Bland, T-Bone Walker. Those kind of musicians from that era. They have certainly drifted into the American songbook from time to time. It's there."
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ALBUM REVIEW
Speak Low opens with Invitation, a dark and lonely soliloquy that fits perfectly with Scaggs' voice. The instrumentation here top notch and it sets the mood for this CD perfectly. Scaggs moves on to She Was Too Good To Me. Scaggs puts on his best crooner hat for this one and accomplishes a nice turn. I Wish I Knew is a gorgeous song no matter who sings it, and Scaggs basically couldn't fail on this one if he tried. Other great renditions here include Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me; Save Your Love For Me; Dindi and This Time The Dream's On Me. Also a notable and brave choice is Skylark. This is a somewhat difficult song to sing well, and Scaggs makes a game performance of it. It's great to hear an artist reach like this. While not perfect, it's better than many singers in the popular realm would manage.
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MINHA OPINIÃO: nunca me interessei pelo trabalho de Boz Scaggs: "R&B" não é exatamente a minha praia. Ao ser apresentado aos albuns "Speak Low" e "But beautiful" (que também será postado oportunamente) falei pra mim mesmo: "pronto, lá vem outro Rod Stewart..." Felizmente queimei a língua porque a surpresa foi agradabilíssima. Nestes CDs Scaggs interpreta com classe e sensibilidade grandes "standards", acompanhado por competentes formações instrumentais jazzísticas. E tem mais: Scaggs "tirou de letra" uma tarefa dificílima que é cantar "Invitation", pois a complexa melodia do grande Bronislaw Kaper é um desafio para grandes vocalistas. De quebra, ainda temos a jobiniana "Dindi" e a belíssima valsa italiana "Senza fine". Coisa finíssima.

(*) O repertório do outro álbum, "But beautiful" é outro colar de pérolas, talvez melhor que este. Aguardem.
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BOZ SCAGGS: Speak low

DOWNLOAD LINK
1. Invitation
2. She Was Too Good To Me
3. I Wish I Knew
4. Speak Low
5. Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me
6. I'll Remember April
7. Save Your Love For Me
8. The Ballad Of The Sad Young Men
9. Skylark
10. Senza Fine
11. Dindi
12. This Time The Dream's On Me