TOM WOPAT
I’ve Got Your Number
Lml Music 2013
It’s Luke Duke! With a record. Which isn’t much of a surprise to those of with joint interests in country music and Jazz Hands. Because like screen brother John Schneider he had a country music career, post Dukes of Hazzard, before heading off to Broadway, appearing in musicals such as City of Angels, Guys and Dolls and even getting a Tony nomination for his performance in Annie Get Your Gun opposite Bernadette Peters, Susan Lucci and Crystal Bernard, who played Annie Oakley (in consecutive order). He got another Tony nod for 2008’s Catered Affair and has also appeared in Chicago, 42nd Street, Sondheim on Sondheim and more.
After his country career, the twenty first century has seen him make he made a couple of jazz tinged standards albums – “In The Still of the Night” and “Dissertation on the State of Bliss” – culminating in the 2009 release, “Consider It Swung”, to which this new release is a natural successor. According to Mr Wopat, “we’ve evoked the spirit of the New York supper club era and the cool vibe of the Mad Men days. The recording swings hard and there’s a lot of really fine music”. And I’m not going to argue with that, as the majority of the tracks on offer fulfil that criteria perfectly.
As well as visits to the Great American Songbook for songs like ‘Call Me’, ‘Born To Be Blue’ and ‘I Won’t Dance’, there are several nods to the modern pop era with takes on James Taylor’s ‘The Secret O’ Life’, ‘Paul Simon’s ‘The Afterlife’, Judy Collins’ ‘Since You Asked’ and even Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Meeting Across the River’. He has a strong baritone which is well honed from his many years on the stage, and if the more contemporary material doesn’t work as well as the vintage, then that’s usually because the older songs are better. Simple as that. The arrangements are top drawer, and when the thirty-piece orchestra hits a groove, it’s a magnificent sound.
The Rocker - The Artist Formerly Known As Zeitgeist. TAFKAZ 
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