Buddy's bottled cool jazz
Buddy Blue (Bernard R. Seigal, born in 1957, according to his passport) is a peculiar and atypical character. He became locally famous in the San Diego area as a member of the Beat Farmers, and later on of the Jacks, two already atypical rock bands blending different styles, from rockabilly and country-rock to swamp and punk rock, before slowly drifting towards jump blues and jazz, while writing as a quite irreverent music critic in several Californian newspapers (Los Angeles Times, San Jose Mercury News, San Diego Union-Tribune…)
In 2003, his "Sordid Lives" were released, a collection of definitely cool swinging vocal jazz tracks, all original songs except "St. James Infirmary". Again, Blue is an atypical but talented lyricist, apparently much concerned with the bottle 😉, as symbolically cued by the glass of wine on the front cover picture. That he is a Cab Calloway fan, you'd guess by just listening to the first tracks this album.He's perfect in the cool vocal style and is an excellent and elegant jazz guitarist as show his great solos on "Horn Rims" or "Monk Side Story" for example. He puts out a sound reminding that of Danny Gatton, particularly on his (Gatton's) live "Redneck Jazz Explosion" albums.
"Upsettin' Me" sounds like a rather classic vocal jazz piece, but what's coming next is not exactly as expected from this first track. This is immediately illustrated by the sometimes surrealistic lyrics of the half spoken "Conversation With The Bottle", of "Jesse's Back In Town" or "Slim Jam".New Orleans, birth place of jazz, is not forgotten through the version of "St. James Infirmary" somewhere reminding Armstrong, and the old New Orleans brass band style of "Wretch's Lament".
Other highlights of the album : the wobbly rhythm of "Uptown At Minton's", the moving melancholy "Nobody", "Baby's Got The Blues" and "Pray For Rain", two nice examples of cool groovy jazz, or "Blues In The Night", a cool jumping and swinging jazz, with the repetitive riffs of the horns suddenly disrupted by the guitar bursting in.Finally, a word of appreciation of Blue's backing musicians, especially Bruce Gilbert (also excellent on piano) and Ed Croft on saxophone, and Sweetlips Mysterioso (!) on trumpet, who largely contribute to the definite jazz color of the album, but also Todd Hilton and Tom Bishop on bass, and Petey Boyle on drums, all perfect in their tasks.
Is it Buddy Blue's interest in the bottle that killed him three years after this album came out ? I don't know. What I know is that though I'm usually not a big fan of vocal jazz, I had sincere pleasure in listening to him and his band for their cool laid-back sound and swinging style. And for his perfect jazz guitar work.■ His country-rockabilly period
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