Boz Scaggs Detour 2025

Boz Scaggs has been here before, and the results are always excellent in a very mellow, laid-back jazz way. But Beautiful 2003 and Speak Low 2008 were both fine late night jazz entrees, and this one is at least the equal of those outings.

Accompanied by a jazz piano trio, Scaggs sings everything with sensitivity and nuance normally reserved for the finest jazz vocalists. If you heard the two mentioned above, you already know that he can deliver jazz vocals as fine as everything else he does in soul, blues, and rock.

Song selection is a lovely dip into the great American songbook and features some songs that not everyone has recorded, at least not recently. There are familiar tunes (The Meaning of the Blues, The Very Thought of You, Angel Eyes) and there are less familiar ones (Detour Ahead, Once I Loved, Too Late Now) that set this collection apart from and above the usual jazz standards collection and makes it sound more interesting than dragging out only the oft-covered songs. In addition to the jazz there are two lovely surprises. Allen Toussaint's It's Raining opens the record, and the rendition is stellar in a quiet way. Scaggs' own I'll Be Long Gone from 1969 is included in an interesting arrangement that is lovely. 

Two things make this record special. One is Scaggs' voice, and the phrasing he has so clearly developed for jazz. The other is pianist Seth Asarnow, whose playing and arranging are sensitive and deft. 

Since 1969 Boz Scaggs has made nineteen records, and there isn't anything close to a disappointment in the catalog. Make that twenty.

Martha Velez Escape From Babylon 1976

Martha Velez acted on the stage in the sixties, and in movies and TV throughout the eighties and nineties. Her voice is big and brassy, and must have been effective from the stage.

Velez's first recordings were with the folk group Gaslight Singers in 1963-64. Her debut solo record, the bluesy Fiends and Angels in 1969, which featured a cast of famous musicians, failed to be her big break. It's a good record, and well worth a listen. She recorded three other stylistically eclectic records in the seventies that went mostly neglected. 

In 1976 Martha Velez went to Jamaica to record a reggae record with Bob Marley producing and The Wailers providing instrumental and backup vocal support. It sounds nothing like anything Velez did before or after. It is also the only record Bob Marley produced for another artist.

Money Man opens the record and the Velez/Wailers combo sounds good on a Velez original that might not be the best fit for a reggae version, but it mostly works. There You Are follows, and it is an excellent take on a Marley original. Wild Bird, another Velez-written tune is an odd folk melody for reggae, but it works and benefits greatly from the I-Threes and a fine Velez vocal. The side closes with Disco Night, featuring less than stellar lyrics, but a strong performance and swell horns from the Zap Pow Horns.

Side two kicks things up a notch. Marley's Bend Down Low is a good fit for Velez, and again the stellar Wailers and I-Threes produce a song worthy of any good reggae mix tape. Happiness repeats the formula again for a hit. Another Velez tune, Come On In, is a blast. It sounds like a Marley written song, and is strong vocal from Velez. The record ends with a cover of Marley and Peter Tosh's Get Up, Stand Up. Velez does a fine job, even if it can't improve on Marley's version, or the definitive version from Tosh's Equal Rights. 

The record is just 31 minutes long, and then it's over. Side two is perfect.

Album Art

The stereo rack sits in the corner of the living room. Above it in the corner are two framed album covers. In this picture, it's Kim Richie's Rise and The Honeydogs' Love and Cannibalism. They worked together because the colors are similar and they are both collage designs. The selections change frequently. Usually there's a theme.

Like highways. That's the back cover of Jimmy Buffet's A1A and Tower of Power's Back to Oakland. 

Or Blue. Kenny Burrell's Midnight Blue and Joni Mitchell's Blue.

Or love. Stacy Kent's In Love Again and Nat King Cole's Love Is the Thing.

Or paintings with animals. Dylan's painting from the cover of The Band's Music From Big Pink and Calexico with Iron and Wine's In The Reins. 

Here's Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon with Billy Cobham's Spectrum. 

These two work nicely with the color of the wall. Donovan's Barabajagal and Ten Years After's Cricklewood Green. They are both from the same time period, and they are great records.

OK, breasts. I don't think these stayed up all that log. The Rondstadt is my favorite of her records, and the Marilyn Monroe is better than you'd think. It includes her famous Happy Birthday, Mr. President as well as songs she sang in movies, such as Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend. The cover is the gatefold picture she did for Playboy magazine. I'm guessing it sold well.

And then there's the Christmas season. I don't own all that many holiday records, but I have these two combos that I rotate year-to-year.

John Fahey's Christmas Guitar is a very lovely record. The Bolshoi Theater Orchestra's Nutcracker is a classic recording, and good, but there are better versions of the material. Perfect cover though.

Diana Krall's Christmas Songs and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings' It's A Holiday Soul Party. Both are fun holiday covers, and also happen to be fabulous music.

And there we have it. There's a bunch of combos I didn't remember when I was taking the pictures, so maybe I'll return to this later, or I'll do it when I'm discussing two different records. If I leave anything up too long, the director of home decor keeps me updating fairly regularly.