Saturday, May 24, 2014

Cocktail Time!

Carmen Cavallaro - "Cocktail Time" (1961) - Decca

Hello Friends,

Its our favorite time of day... Cocktail Time!  

In an age of gimmicks there is nothing more refreshing and delightful than genuine style-- the sort of style that represents a rich background of talent, imagination and good taste; style that becomes the universally-known signature of a great artist.

Actually, the above is cribbed directly from this LP's liner notes.  Carmen Cavallaro, the self-proclaimed "poet of the piano", delivers eleven easy listening interpretations of American standards and show tunes.  And although the liner notes would go on to compare his keyboard stylings "as familiar to everyone who enjoys music as the unique brushwork of Picasso is to an art lover" we really wouldn't go that far.  Sure, its laidback and unassuming, but its all background dressing.  Its not as lavish as, let's say, Liberace, not as proficient as an Oscar Peterson, and not as entertaining as a Bobby Short.

The more we think about it, the more it seems like the guy who wrote these liner notes was a real fuddy-duddy who had a bone to pick with some of Cavallaro's more "gimmicky" contemporaries such as Liberace or the dueling piano duo of Ferrante & Teicher!  

Geez, get over yourself! 

RATING: 3 Happiest Girls in the World out of 5


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