Albums

Timelessness is a very rare quality. It’s a matter of style and attitude. Quite frankly, time has to pass before something proves to be timeless. However, “timeless” is the word that keeps coming to mind when I listen to this collection of songs performed by Tommy Tune.

Thanks to the sure musical direction of Wally Harper, amid the lush orchestrations by Peter Matz, these songs from disparate sources fuse together with a singular attitude that makes each of them an inevitable destination on a romantic journey.

The musical story they tell is the oldest one in the book, and yet somehow there is a sense of discovery about all of them in this setting.

The sense of collaboration among Tommy, Peter, and Wally is a wonder to behold. Their shorthand is swift and specific, and their song selection is, well, impeccable. Standards such as Johnny Burke & Jimmy Van Heusen’s “Moonlight Becomes You” sit happily next to lesser-known songs like Dave Frischberg’s “Sweet Kentucky Ham”; that’s a very special talent – it takes knowledge, taste, and affection for the material, three qualities that these guys have in spades.

Many years ago, most of us used to think of Tommy as first a dancer who could sing, then a choreographer, then a director/choreographer, then he reminded us that he was still a captivating performer. Now with this album he steps out of all those roles and becomes a singer in the old style. Warm, gentle, assured: as if he’d been doing this sort of thing all his life – which of course he has, just not with a 30-piece orchestra backing him up.

Time alone will tell whether or not this recording proves to be “timeless,” but for now just make sure the champagne is iced, the moon is full, the candles are lit, a Manhattan skyline is outside your window, and you have someone – real or imagined – in your arms to dance with. The tempos are right, just right, for a gentle bossa nova, a slow fox-trot, or a quiet waltz … Slow Dancin’.

– Bill Rosenfield