Bobby Troup is mainly remembered as a songwriter and television personality, but as this session makes clear, he was also a winning
jazz interpreter of other people's tunes. With this album,
Troup was able to bring together two of his greatest musical influences as both a performer and as a songwriter:
swing era
Nat King Cole and
Johnny Mercer. By the late 1940s
Nat Cole may have ditched his highly influential
jazz trio for
orchestral settings, but
Troup continued to use
Cole's supple piano style as the musical foundation for his entire professional life. And like
Johnny Mercer,
Troup was a songwriter who knew
jazz inside out, and performed with winning twinkle in his eye. So, even if
Bobby Troup will never be confused with
Frank Sinatra, it's the way that he combines his "musician's voice" with his piano playing that is special. While half of the tunes on this album are the same ones that make it on to every
Johnny Mercer collection,
Troup had the class to throw in such winning
Mercer obscurities "Cuckoo in the Clock," "Lazy Mood," and "I'm With You." This isn't an essential collection, but it does prove that even if
Bobby Troup never put pen to paper, he would've had a place in 1950s
jazz history solely as a performer. ~ Nick Dedina, All Music Guide
