If you think the Least Coast has all of the music worth hearing, you need to check out the LA vocal scene, as we’ve got some singers that blow everyone else off the street. Cheryl Bentyne (of the Manhattan Transfer) teams up on this disc with singer/songwriter/Angeleno Mark WInkler for a hip disc of material dedicated to the 50s West Coast. They perform this material in the local joints like Vitello’s and Catalina’s, so this release is a hint of what you’re missing out there in EST. The sidemen are all local cats as well, includeing Rich Eames-Jon Mayer/p, Tim Emmons-Kevin Axt/b, Dave Tull-Roy McCurdy/dr, Anthony Wilson/g, Joe Bagg/B3 and Bob Sheppard/sax. The singing, vibe and delivery is as sleek and sharp as fins on a ’62 Caddy, with the two vocalists going back and forth on material like “Take 5/Drinks on the Patio” and “Girl Talk/It’s the Talk of the Town” like an afternoon game of badminton. Bentyne gets the collar hot on “An Occasional Man” and Winkler sounds Maxwell Smart on “Hungry Man.” Everyone swings like there’s no tomorrow on “Route 66/Alright, OK, You Win,” and salaciosly sinister on “Senior Blues.” A hint of what a gig sounds like closes the album with a fingersnapping read of “Cool.” So cool that it’s hot!
Summit Records