A year after issuing his debut album,
The Capitol Studios Sessions,
Jeff Goldblum returns to the piano and his band the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra with 2019's
I Shouldn't Be Telling You This. The acclaimed actor brings a level of street cred to his musical endeavors that many celebrity-turned-musicians lack. A longtime jazz pianist,
Goldblum actually started out playing gigs years before he embarked on his Hollywood career and has continued to moonlight as a pianist, regularly playing shows around Los Angeles and New York. While he displays a knack for straight-ahead jazz sophistication, it doesn't hurt that he surrounds himself with a bevy of top-notch pros, including Hammond B-3 specialist Joe Bagg, who carries a lion's share of the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra's sound throughout the album. Also contributing are bassist
Alex Frank, guitarist John Stone, drummer
Kenny Elliott, and saxophonists James King and
Scott Gilman. Together, they play a brightly attenuated brand of '60s-influenced jazz that brings to mind the groovy hard bop of
Horace Silver crossed with the urbane soulfulness of
Ramsey Lewis. As on
The Capitol Studios Sessions, here
Goldblum also features a handful of guest performers, including indie singer/songwriter
Sharon Van Etten, who acquits herself nicely on a dusky version of "Let's Face the Music and Dance." Similarly,
Fiona Apple evokes
Shirley Bassey's feline swagger on "Don't Worry 'Bout Me." One of
Goldblum's more interesting choices on the album is to create unexpected mash-ups, as with his wryly swinging combination of
Lee Morgan's "The Sidewinder" and
Sonny Bono's "The Beat Goes On" featuring singer
Inara George. Also surprisingly effective is his arrangement of
Wes Montgomery's "Four on Six" weaved together with
Marianne Faithfull's "Broken English" and helmed with Weimar cabaret swagger by singer
Anna Calvi.
Goldblum's skill at showcasing other performers is clearly a part of his charm, and here it extends beyond pop artists as he brings on San Diego trumpeter
Gilbert Castellanos for several tasty solos, spotlights L.A. jazz chanteuse Gina Saputo on an impressive vocalese version of "If I Knew Then," and communes with Grammy-winning vocalist
Gregory Porter over a warm reading of "Make Someone Happy." ~ Matt Collar