Performing with the Danish Radio Big Band, One More for the Road (Concord) will be the latest album for release in early-2017 from Curtis Stigers. A Basie/Sinatra-referencing concept, the new album was themed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Sinatra at the Sands. Recorded in a Copenhagen concert hall, eight of the songs picked derive from the 1966 concert in the Sands’ Copa Room conducted and arranged by Quincy Jones that spawned the classic album. Stigers, a welcome regular visitor to UK and Ireland jazz clubs and festivals, and beloved of the Will Self-fan friendly TV comedy show Shooting Stars, comments: “I try not to sing like Sinatra, but there’s no way that some Sinatra doesn’t get in there. There are certain phrasings that he used that work so well with the arrangements that I couldn’t not use them. It’s a fine line to walk, but as a jazz singer and as a recording artist, I’ve always tried to do everything different every time.”

 

A former pop star his hits included ‘I Wonder Why,’ and an urgent cover of Nick Lowe’s revered ‘(What’s So Funny Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding’ (click for a more recent tom tom-rumble of a live version), Stigers’ Gene Harris-inspired jazz career dates back to 2001's Baby Plays Around. SG
Curtis Stigers, top. US release date, 20 January. Photo: Marina Chavez/Concord. updated 07/01/17