Bobby Caldwell

The veteran blue-eyed soul singer has been busy since 1995 (the year he released his last literal pop album, Soul Survivor), recording albums of standards along with his Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darin-styled soundtrack work and counting the royalties from the 100 or so covers or samples of his best-known hit, "What You Won't Do for Love" – so preoccupied, in fact, that's it's been easy to forget just how skilled he is at delivering easygoing romantic pop, whether it's funky and percussive (as on the brassy, bouncy "Call Me Up"), perfect for Latin salsa dancing (the balmy "Donna"), or simply laid-back and moonlit (the title track).

Born in Manhattan and raised in Miami, Bobby came from a show business family. His mother and father both sang and were the hosts of one of the first musical variety programs on television, "Suppertime." Bobby grew up listening to show tunes, the music of Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, as well as The Beatles. These early influences are prevalent in Bobby's singing and songwriting.

The vocalist and multi-instrumentalist was born in Manhattan, a location that provided him with a bass in jazz as well as the Great American Songbook. He also called Memphis his home, which is where he likely heard plenty of blues; country and R&B. Caldwell also lived in Miami for a time, where he soaked in that international city’s Latin influences. The artist brings all of those influences together on House of Cards, his latest album and his first featuring all original recordings in seven years. House of Cards includes country, Latin and blues tunes. However, Caldwell is jazz and soul singer, and the best tracks on House of Cards features the vocalist performing tunes that swing and tell stories guys who win at cards and lose at love.

Bobby Caldwell has been a favorite among fans of sophisticated R&B and contemporary jazz since 1978, the year the singer, songwriter, and guitarist hit the Top Ten of Billboard's Hot 100 and R&B charts with "What You Won't Do for Love." Originally from Manhattan and later raised in Miami, Caldwell was exposed to a wide variety of musical influences by his parents, hosts of the television variety show Suppertime. Only a few years after he started studying piano and guitar, he opted to enter the music industry, but it wasn't until the following decade that he signed to the T.K.-distributed Clouds label and broke through with What You Won't Do for Love, his first of several albums.

Contemporary jazz singer/guitarist Bobby Caldwell was born August 15, 1951, in Manhattan, NY; his parents, Bob and Carolyn, were the hosts of the television variety show Suppertime and exposed the child to a wide variety of musical influences. Caldwell began studying piano and guitar at age 12; he initially pursued a career in rock & roll but was equally adept at playing jazz and R&B and at 17 took his band on the road to play the Las Vegas circuit. From there the group moved on to Los Angeles, but despite recording an album titled Kathmandu, Caldwell enjoyed little success and eventually returned to his parents home in Miami. There he began work on his 1978 breakthrough album What You Won't Do for Love, scoring a hit single with the title cut. Efforts including a 1979 self-titled LP, The Cat in the Hat, and Carry On followed, and although Caldwell enjoyed a strong following at home, he became a superstar in Japan. He shifted creative gears with 1996's Blue Condition, a collection of big band-era standards; the similarly themed Come Rain or Come Shine followed three years later.

It's a tribute to Bobby Caldwell's consummate songwriting skills that his three original compositions – including the previously recorded, melancholy would-be classic "Stuck on You" – fit in perfectly alongside standards by the likes of Cole Porter and Sammy Cahn/Jimmy Van Heusen on the very tradition-minded Blue Condition. Best known for easygoing R&B-flavored adult pop vocals, Caldwell reaches back and superimposes himself in front of lively big-band arrangements that recall classic Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Bobby Darin recordings. He never approaches those idols in terms of vocal distinction, but that doesn't seem to be his point. He's more reflecting upon his inspirations than trying to emulate them, rewarding longtime fans with the sort of artistry they suspected might exist all along. The uninitiated, however, might enjoy all the surrounding pleasantries and wonder why we need another guy out there doing classics when he clearly doesn't measure up to those standards vocally.

The name of this collection is as applicable to Elliot's real life piloting skills as it is to his flourishing solo career. As with his three prior releases, his tenor and alto saxes give you everything – soul, passion, heat – Elliot established himself with releases like these as the James Brown of contemporary jazz. Elliot is not as rambunctious as he was on the previous year's The Power of Suggestion, but he made strides toward finding that unique "Elliot sound." He succeeds most of the time here, most noticeably with a soaring, heart-searing rendition of Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman," which became a trademark concert tune and one of his legacies on smooth jazz radio. He starts to let loose on the perky "The Grip," then turns on the smooth for "4:00 a.m.," "In Your Arms," and the tropical flavored "Down to the Keys." In place of rockers, Elliot goes for that midtempo groove, but you can't argue with success.