Burnished and romantic, vocalist
Freddy Cole's 2011 Highnote release
Talk to Me features the master singer backed by his stellar working sextet featuring guitarist
Randy Napoleon, pianist
John Di Martino, bassist
Elias Bailey, and drummer
Curtis Boyd. Also featured here are the more than welcome talents of trumpeter
Terell Stafford and saxophonist
Harry Allen, who punctuate these arrangements with tasty, melodic, and swinging solos.
Cole has long been lauded as the successor to the balladeer throne once held by such icons as
Nat King Cole,
Billy Eckstine,
Joe Williams, and
Johnny Hartman. In that sense,
Talk to Me does nothing if not reinforce this notion. From his lead-off take on the lush and urbane "Mam'selle," to his inspired after-hours jazz reworking of not one but two
Bill Withers songs in "Lovely Day" and the laid-back Latin number "Can We Pretend?,"
Cole is in superb form throughout. Elsewhere, he bests
Johnny Mathis on his version of the poignant ballad "I Was Telling Her About You," and, as on the rest of the album, is the epitome of taste and bluesy romanticism on "Come Home." ~ Matt Collar