Bobby Short You're The Top: Love Songs Of Cole Porter CD

Bobby Short is to Cole Porter as Joao Gilberto will always be to Jobim, the man most capable of presenting the composer's work in a milieu concordant with the one in which it was created. Both men hail from Indiana, but both journeyed to New York City to pursue the sophisticate's life through music. Despite the misleading cover text, this album was not recorded at Manhattan's famed Cafe Carlyle, where pianist/singer Short and his trio have reigned supreme for decades, singing Porter and more in a virtual one-man crusade to keep the tradition alive.

Instead of his usual trio, Short is accompanied by the subtly swinging big band of Loren Schoenberg, which adds just the right mix of pageantry and sensuality to Short's performances. As ever, Short's voice is the perfect combination of studied decadence, high-society pomp-and-circumstance, and gracefully jazzy emotional commitment. The pure, high tones that peek through the rough, sandpapery edges of his unique voice are the pearl in the oyster on this albu, which proves that elegance and sophistication are never out of date.

He Covers 15 Cole Porter Songs With 16 Piece Big Band

Recorded at Clinton Recording Studios from October 13-16, 1998; Avatar Studios on November 9 & 29, 1998; and Sound On Sound, New York, New York on January 22 & 25, 1999. Includes liner notes by Robert Kimball.

YOU'RE THE TOP: LOVE SONGS OF COLE PORTER was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance.

Personnel: Bobby Short (vocals, piano); Jay Berliner, Howard Alden (guitar); Jack Stuckey, Jay Brandford (flute, clarinet, alto saxophone); Danny Bank (flute, bass clarinet, baritone saxophone); Doug Lawrence (clarinet, tenor saxophone); Loren Schoenberg (tenor saxophone); John Eckert (trumpet, flugelhorn); Tony Kadleck, Virgil Jones (trumpet); Bobby Pring, Eddie Bert (trombone); Frank Tate (bass); Klaus Suonsaari (drums).

Engineers: Jack Renner, Robert Friedrich, Mark Partis.