Freddy Cole is one of American popular music's great performers. Like pop icon Tony Bennett, Cole is a beloved musician's musician and a living link not just to the Great American Songbook but to jazz and blues history. His total command of his voice and his beloved stage personality combines the bluesy minimalism of Count Basie, the urbane sophistication of George Shearing and the uptown swagger of Duke Ellington. Cole matured as a musician at a time where the blues were the basis of much of the popular music of the day and his take on the genre is second to none. In Singing the Blues Cole pays tribute to the people, places and performing spaces that shaped his life and career. Revisiting some of brother Nat's forays into the blues, Cole also offers a few surprises such as "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men" and Steve Allen's "An Old Piano Plays the Blues." You can always expect something fresh and unique from master song stylist Freddy Cole — even when you thought you already knew everything about the blues.

FREDDY COLE, vocals • Harry Allen, tenor saxophone • John di Martino, piano • Randy Napoleon, guitar • Elias Bailey, bass • Curtis Boyd, drums

TRACKS: Muddy Water Blues • This Time I'm Gone For Good • Another Way to Feel • Goin' Down Slow • Meet Me at No Special Place • All We Need is a Place • My Mother Told Me • Singing the Blues • he Ballad of the Sad Young Men • Pretending • An Old Piano Plays the Blues

 Muddy Water Blues

 Goin' Down Slow

 My Mother Told Me

 Singing the Blues