West Coast Cool vocalist Mark Winkler adds another hip album to his already strong catalog. This time around, he foregoes his own writing skills in favor of delving into the compositions of Bobby Troup, most famed for his tunes like “Route 66,” starring on vintage TV shows like Mannix and Emergency, and coming home every night to wife Julie London. Not a bad gig, and Winkler is up to the task.
He mixes and matches his co-production with Dolores Scozzesi with some of LA’s finest jazzers including Rich Eames-Jon Mayer/p, Gabe Davis-Kevin Axt/b, Tave Tull-Mark Ferber-Roy McCurdy/dr, Anthony Wilson/Grant Geissman/g and guests Bob Sheppard/ts, Ann Patterson/fl, Ricky Woodard/ts and Jamieson Trotter-Joe Bagg/B3. Winkler’s take of the classic highway has him cruising at a slow and easy 2nd gear, not rushed at all, and it works well. He’s a total hep cat with Wilson and Bagg on “Lemon Twist” and bopps with Axt and Sheppard’s accompaniment on the nifty “Three Bears.” A fun duet with Dave Tull results in a sly “Triskaidekaphobia” with a street smarts for the “I’m Such A Hungry Man” and telling a bopper of a story for the simpler “Hungry Man.”
While he shows how to swing with the best, for my money Winkler is best on the more Spartan material, with an intimate duet with Mayer on “It Happened Once Before” and a tender story tale of “Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring” teamed with Anthony Wilson. Clean, sharp and as pressed as the best suit you can find in the Garment District.