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George Bugatti: This one may put him over the top (10/24/2003)
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This new CD has top notch production, from the artistic design to the talents of Nigel Wright of "American Idol" and Andrew Lloyd Webber fame.
This CD is getting attention because of the song written by Bono, Two shots of happy, one shot of sad.
And it should be. It is easily the best song on the CD. If the song gets any airplay on Adult Contemporary and maybe even some Pop stations, George may be the big star I forecast him to be in 1999.
I remember talking to him once between sets at the Bellagio. I had shown George and Mary some of my lyrics (he was complimentary, which I will always treasure) and remarked that one of the reasons he admired songwriters so much was that he could never be one himself.
Well, he was wrong. He wrote two songs on the CD; they remind me of the work of one of his mentors, the late Steve Allen. Well-crafted and poetic, A Night for Romance and While I'm Away, should get some play on jazz stations.
As always, his phrasings are perfect on the old standards, yet not imitations of anyone. I remember his remarking on several occasions that the great Tony Bennett taught him how to "get inside a song." George learned well, and makes each one his own.
It would have been nice for his wife, Mary, to have been on the CD; I thought their duet was one of the highlights of his last effort. Perhaps she could have done backup vocals on the title song, which they co-wrote.
Honestly, I actually prefer the "Bugatti on the Strip" compilation of standards overall, but perhaps the cream of the cream just make me nostalgic for the nights spent sipping club soda and listening to a great vocalist and pianist as well as Jerry the sax player. (By the way, George has apparently moved from behind the piano for good, at least in his performances.) Hopefully the Bono song will go gold, the CD will go platinum, and people will discover his earlier CD's as well.
Also, if someone knows if George is still at the Ritz-Carlton at Lake Las Vegas, please let me know. I think I read somewhere that he lives here now.
Please click here to order from Amazon.
My review of "Bugatti on the Strip" is here . . .
and you may also be interested in my earlier review of George's The Steve Allen Songbook
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Last updated 24 October 2003