Track Listing

1. It Had To Be You
2. Until The Real Thing Comes Along
3. Ain't Misbehavin'
4. That Old Feeling
5. Baby, It's Cold Outside (w/ Jane Monheit)
6. Stardust
7. It All Depends On You
8. As Time Goes By
9. I Wonder
10. What A Little Moonlight Can Do
11. Why Was I Born
12. Let's Fall In Love
13. Our Love Is Here To Stay
14. Someone To Watch Over Me
15. Everytime We Say Goodbye
16. Remembering 'Sweets

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24763 in Music
• Released on: 2006-04-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

From Amazon.com
Sanitize Tom Waits's vocal cords, take some of the rasp out of Dr. John's, put some muscle into Bobby Caldwell's, combine them and you'll have an approximation of the quality of Steve Tyrell's voice. Like his popular 1999 debut, A New Standard, this is a meticulously recorded album featuring the great American songbook and some of the best jazz soloists alive, including trumpeter Clark Terry, harmonica player Toots Thielemans, and singer Jane Monheit, who plays Lucille Ball and Betty Carter against Tyrell's Red Skelton and Ray Charles on the classic duet "Baby It's Cold Outside." Tyrell complements each of his partners with the kind of empathy that makes them shine as bright as his irresistible voice. Plas Johnson's saxophone take on "That Old Feeling," for instance, is highly reminiscent of the symbiotic musical partnership that Lester Young created with Billie Holiday more than half a century ago. Also like his first record, it is the creative arrangements of guitarist Bob Mann and pianist Joe Sample that make this 16-song disc work so well. --Mark Ruffin

Customer Reviews

S'wonderful!
Thank you Today Show for doing a feature on Steve Tyrell. (Incidentally, he's a great man as well. He tragically lost his beloved wife to cancer a few years ago -- the focus of the piece -- and is raising three great kids.)

But I digress. After the Today Show piece, I immediately ordered his CDs and have not stopped listening to them. What a deft touch he has to the standards...and what a marvelous voice. He sings with such passion and feeling. He is a master of these standards.

No Sophomore Slump For Steve Tyrell, He's On A Roll!
It is a rare occasion indeed when an artist can recreate the magic that was captured on a hit debut album and establish themselves as a leader of a musical trend, but with his second release "Standard Time" Steve Tyrell has done just that. With an ensemble of world-class players he covers some of the real jewels out of the Great American Songbook and together these wonderfully talented musicians give us renditions that will last a lifetime.

If you LOVE listening to GREAT CROONERS and BIG BAND SWING, I would also recommend, Monte Procopio "Swingin' With Style" CD. He is another great crooner that can really SWING and deserves a listen. Buy both these CDs, you can't go wrong!

Stylistically stunted
I'm not sure I totally understand Tyrell's appeal - it's on first hearing a fine voice for such equally fine material, but it's the use of the voice I find terribly limited. From one song to another, there's no added charm, humour, sensuality nor character, nor is there any variation in colour of the voice between lines or between tracks. Tyrell is from beginning to end the same showman-crooner, and persuades Jane Monheit that "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with the same sort of showy, projected candour as in "As Time Goes By". Listen to greats like Sinatra, Fitzgerald, Armstrong, Holliday, Bridgewater or even Diana Krall, and one is in different territory altogether.

I find that Tyrell's fine in small doses (say, no more than two tracks at a time), but listening through an album and having to live through the same vocal style and mannerisms (including whooping portamentos not entirely suited for such a voice as his) for a whole hour is a bit like having chocolate fudge cake with a side order of chocolate ice-cream all washed down with a nice mug of hot chocolate. Burp!