No one can accuse Curtis Stigers of a narrow range of genres in picking his songs for his newest CD. Including four songs he co-wrote, jazz, pop, slinky rhythms, rock and blues fuse or sit comfortably side by side to create a twelve-track album where husky-voiced singer/tenor sax player Stigers sounds at home in each distinct style or hybrid. His blues are not just mutterings of dissatisfaction but show more rumination, sensitivity and determination to get out from under the dark clouds. In the opener, “Cold” by Annie Lennox, he sounds convincing in lines such as “Dying is easy, it’s living that scares me.” One needs an open mind that’s accepting of the mix, along with the brooding, wailing and sly ways. “Daddy’s Coming Home,” co-written with co-producer/trumpeter/glockenspiel player/arranger John “Scrapper” Sneider, is a confident growling seducer. “The Dreams of Yesterday,” one of two collaborations with Larry Goldings, is the most overall satisfying of the originals, for this listener, due to its more evocative mood and more interesting lyrics.

There are a few picks from the standard repertoire. “My Funny Valentine” is no light-hearted, starry-eyed Valentine validation but a long rumination clocking in at just under six minutes but retains interest due to the committed reading and good match of mood in the instrumental break. (It can only help to stay on the same page of the Great American Songbook—or any follow-up volume—when the able lead player is also the singer.) 1939’s “We’ll Meet Again” is set up by Roger Waters’ evocative, fond “Vera,” a song about the lady associated with this oldie, Vera Lynn. Nice touch. But there are lots of nice touches on Lost in Dreams, with its many moody and mellow, warm low-flame moments perhaps best suited to be played in the hours referred to in the title of the last track: the standard “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning.” That’s often a good time zone for drinking in music.

Rob Lester
Cabaret Scenes
March 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org