Giacomo Gates; You

If there was a course available on jazz swinging, I’m sure that the teacher would be Giacomo Gates. On yet another album for Savant Records, Gates takes on no less than eighteen tunes with his impeccable jazz phrasing, bop orientation, perfect scatting and great song selection. He is accompanied here by the rapidly rising Tim Ray on piano, along with John Lockwood on bass and James Lattini on drums. Whereas Gates usually concentrates on bebop classics, this time he throws us a little curve through the American Songbook. As a result, we are treated to such treasures as “Exactly Like You”, “It Had To Be You”, “I Remember You”, “Everything But You”, and many more. Get the drift? Every tune deals with YOU! And each of them is delivered with a hip turn of phrase, a bebop lick, some spoken words, or whatever comes out of Gates’ creative, jazz-drenched head. If there’s a more pure male jazz singer around today, well I haven’t heard him.

Savant; 2022; appx. 51 min.