Customer Reviews

Taboo!

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I'll give Mr. Buble credit for initially bringing pure pop/swing/up cabaret/jazz back into fashion and chart prominence. The downside is everyone in this category gets compared to him.

Outside of obvious Buble impersonators, this simply isn't fair. Case in point, this new collection from Jonny Blu.

Mr. Blu establishes his own sound profile and personality from the first track and continues from there to consistently impress and most importantly for me, lead you into repeated listening.

Even the potentially over-the-top title grabs your attention. Clever marketing move.

I hope Jonny gets all the breaks Michael has. He certainly deserves them.

I came by Jonny Blu about a year ago while listening to Martiniinthemorning ... one of my favorite ways to sniff out new young talent plying the standards. On this occasion Jonny caught my ear with his jazzy cool version of "Babaloo (Babalu)" off his most recent album, "Taboo!". I'm going to age myself right now by telling you that I grew up watching I Love Lucy with Ricky Ricardo and secretly loved Ricky singing "Babloo" ... yeah I know, wow.

In a similar vein to Diana Krall's "Quiet Nights" and Sinatra's excursions with Antonio Carlos Jobim, "Taboo!" delivers thirteen great renditions of some great Latin standards classics. Starting with the title track and it's Basie band stylings and then on to "Frenesi", a well done version of "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps", super smooth "Say No More" and of course "Babloo"! There are two versions of "Bèsame Mucho" (one in Spanish) which is extra primo cool with a chasing cornet throughout the song. Jonny reprises "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" in a duet with Juanita Rosa who shadows Jonny nicely but overall there's not much extra juice in the duet.

People tend to lump guys like Jonny Blu into the "Bublé wannabe" camp (I've heard "Connick Jr. wannabe" in Jonny's case as well), but with JB it's neither fair nor apt as this kid is the real deal. Jonny is polished and smooth so there are similarities but, he takes fresh license with most of the arrangements and his sometimes bluesy, sometimes jazzy, always smooth vocal styling is distinctive.