No One Knows (2005)

Product Summary UPC: 00324332201226 Release Date: 1/15/2008 Buy.com Sku: 63972523 Item#: M295P9 Format:  CD Song Listing Disc 1 Song Title Sample 1. Easy on the Heart - (with Charlie Haden/Arthur Hamilton) ~ Eric Comstock 2. To the Ends of the Earth - (with Joe Sherman/Noel Sherman) ~ Eric Comstock 3. No One Knows - (with Billy Strayhorn) ~ Eric Comstock 4. Don't Get Around Much Anymore - (with Duke Ellington/Bob Russell) ~ Eric Comstock 5. Jump For Joy - (with Duke Ellington/Paul Francis Webster/Sid Kuller) ~ Eric Comstock 6. Small World - (with Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim) ~ Eric Comstock 7. Night Has a Thousand Eyes, The - (with Buddy Bernier/Jerry Brainin) ~ Eric Comstock 8. Grievin' - (with Billy Strayhorn/Duke Ellington) ~ Eric Comstock 9. Imagination - (with James Van Heusen/Johnny Burke) ~ Eric Comstock 10. I Do It For Your Love - (with Paul Simon) ~ Eric Comstock 11. Hazel's Hips - (with Oscar Brown Jr.) ~ Eric Comstock 12. When Lights Are Low - (with Benny Carter/Spencer Williams) ~ Eric Comstock 13. Old Devil Moon - (with Burton Lane/E.Y. "Yip" Harburg) ~ Eric Comstock 14. There Will Never Be Another You - (with Harry Warren/Mack Gordon) ~ Eric Comstock 15. If I Had My Druthers - (with Gene DePaul/Johnny Mercer) ~ Eric Comstock 16. I Hear Music - (with Burton Lane/Frank Loesser) ~ Eric Comstock   Album Notes and Credits Notes & Personnel Info Personnel: Eric Comstock (vocals, piano); Eric Comstock; Eric Reed (piano); Peter Washington (double bass); Peter Bernstein (guitar); Frank Wess (flute, tenor saxophone); Wycliffe Gordon (trombone); Matt Wilson (drums). Liner Note Author: David Hajdu. Recording information: Acoustic Recording, Brooklyn, NY. Arrangers: Eric Comstock; Tedd Firth. In the late '90s and early 2000s, Eric Comstock had a reputation for being more of a cabaret/traditional pop singer than a jazz singer. But on his third album, No One Knows, he seems to be going out of his way to show what he can offer from a jazz standpoint. Comstock includes songs by Charlie Haden, Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn and Benny Carter, and he is backed by musicians who are most definitely jazz improvisers -- people like veteran tenor saxman/flutist Frank Wess (an accomplished Count Basie alumni), trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, guitarist Peter Bernstein (who has a strong Grant Green influence), pianist Eric Reed, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Matt Wilson. Even so, No One Knows doesn't cater to jazz purists 100-percent of the time. Comstock, who has been described as "Fred Astaire-ish," tends to favor a very clean, mannered, polished vocal style -- and his versions of "There Will Never Be Another You," "Imagination," "I Hear Music" and "Old Devil Moon" are closer to cabaret. But one hears a more jazz-oriented sense of swing on Oscar Brown, Jr.'s "Hazel's Hips," Haden's "Easy on the Heart" and some Ellington/Strayhorn material. Comstock, thankfully, isn't one of those singers with a "warhorses-only" policy; the New York City resident includes several overdone Tin Pan Alley warhorses, but he also embraces Paul Simon's "I Do It for Love" and unearths some worthwhile Ellington and Strayhorn material that hasn't been beaten to death (including "Jump for Joy," "Grievin'" and the title track). No One Knows won't go down in history as 2005's ultimate hard bop/jazz purist album, but whether one categorizes Comstock as cabaret, traditional pop or vocal jazz -- arguably, he's all of those things -- this is a generally decent, well-executed CD that offers some likable surprises here and there. ~ Alex Henderson   Technical Info Release Date : 01/22/2008 Original Release Date : 2005 Catalog ID : 2201 Label : Harbinger Records Number of Discs : 1 Studio/Live : Studio Mono/Stereo : Stereo SPAR Code : n/a UPC : 00324332201226   Professional Reviews JazzTimes (p.120) - "[H]is jazz smarts are as finely tuned as his showman instincts."    Related Videos Randy Jackson: Randy Jack...