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.

Donald Fagan, Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs The New York Rock and Soul Review: Live at the Beacon 1991, The Dukes of September Live at Lincoln Center 2014

Not every release you might enjoy needs to be important. Sometimes just "fun", or "nice" or "cool" is all that's needed. That's how I feel about these releases. Neither of them is a good as a good Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs, or Michael McDonald record (Well, maybe not McDonald). But they are well worth your time to hear them.

Both feature the three stars. The New York Rock and Soul Review features additional guest stars worthy of their appearance. And both are backed up by stellar backing musicians and vocalists.

The New York Rock and Soul Review: Live at the Beacon includes Phoebe Snow, Charles Brown, and David and Eddie Brigati, covering Rascals hits, soul gems, Brown's blues, Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers hits. We get hot guitar from Jimmy Vivino and others, and great horns from Cornelius Bumpus and a great horn section. What's not to like?

Twenty years later the three got together and toured. The band included Steely Dan regulars plus all-pro horns and backup singers. Without the guests, we get that much more of Steely Dan and McDonald/Doobies, and considerably more Boz Scaggs, which can only be good. A few choice soul covers round out the set, with the Isley's Who's That Lady? being a standout.

You don't need these records, but you'll probably enjoy your time spent with them.

The Best of 2018

I once again reviewed the many "Best of 2018" lists from many print and internet sources. I went and listened to samples and found what I found last year: I'm old and no longer musically relevant. But if you don't care for Rap, Hip Hop, Nu Soul, and manufactured Pop product, then maybe you'll like some of these. These are all records that I own, and the list doesn't include lots of great stuff I didn't get a chance to hear. But here they are, my favorites from 2018.

Kelly Willis Back Being Blue
Today's best country singer releases yet another stone classic. Great songs, perfect sympathetic arrangements, solid band, beautiful recording. My vote for record of the year.

Boz Scaggs Out Of The Blues
Scaggs continues to impress with his late-career revitalization. This time he does what he does best: smooth voiced blues and R&B with a solid band behind him and great (mostly) new songs.

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio Close But No Cigar
Soul-jazz-funk perfection. Brilliant guitarist Jimmy James takes them from very good to excellent. Like Booker T. and the MGs with a large infusion of jazz.

Sloan 12
Canadian Power-popers Sloan continue to make great records twenty-five years in. Nothing fancy, just solid rock and roll songs with a pinch of magic.

Jennifer Warnes Another Time, Another Place
Laid-back beauty. Breathtaking singing. Complementary arrangements. Great songs. Wow.

The Jayhawks Back Roads And Abandoned Motels 
All but two of the songs were written with other artists for various projects. Because of this, the songs are less same-y than most recent Jayhawks fare with Gary Louris doing all the writing. It sounds more like the early years of the band when Mark Olsen shared writing credits.

Robin McKelle Melodic Canvas
Musical chameleon McKelle returns to jazz on this her seventh release. After a career that started with big band jazz and veered into pop and soul, she returns with an intimate jazz recording featuring her own solid songwriting and lovely voice and phrasing.

Kim Richey Edgeland
Always entertaining, Richey gets help from Chuck Profit, Brad Jones, and a stellar supporting cast. None of the all-star help is wasted.

Belly Dove
Twenty years after the break-up they sound like they never left.

JD McPherson Socks
Yes, it's a Christmas record. But McPherson writes a bunch of fun songs and applies the same rockabilly perfection that fills his other records.

Boz Scaggs Out Of The Blues 2018 and A Fool To Care 2015

Boz Scaggs has been producing some great material in later years. I discussed most of his catalog along with his 1997 Anthology, and I reviewed his Memphis from 2013. Since then Boz has maintained his activity with these two fine records.

What both of these records show is that Boz's voice has lost nothing as he's aged. In his seventies, he sounds like his younger self in both presence and range, and if anything he has become an even better, more nuanced, singer in maturity. 

A Fool To Care was a grand return to form, and showed a wide range of Boz'z musical interests from soul to blues to rock to Americana. From the country/blues stomp of Rich Woman to Al Green's soulful Full Of Fire to Rick Danko's Small Town Talk, the song selection is broad and excellent, and Boz and the band (Ray Parker, Jr., Willie Weeks, and Steve Jordan) nail it all. Guest appearance duets with Lucinda Williams (Whispering Pines) and Bonnie Raitt (Hell To Pay) add even more dimension to an already fine record.

The new Out Of The Blues is not quite the review of classic blues chestnuts that 1997's Come On Home was. Instead, it is a review of several newly minted blues chestnuts. About half the album is new songs from songwriter Jack Walroth, while the rest cover Bobby Blue Bland, Magic Sam, Jimmy Reed, and Neil Young. All four of Walroth's contributions are solid blues-rock with a funky edge. Scagg's slow burning take on Neil Young's On The Beach is a smoldering blues, and everything else works perfectly. The band again features Ray Parker, Jr. and Willie Weeks, plus Jim Keltner on drums, Doyle Bramhall II and Charlie Sexton on guitars, Jim Cox on keyboards, and Walroth on harmonica.

In the early part of the new century, Scaggs gave us two fine records of jazz standards, and they were super. Since then, these two and Memphis are a trifecta of late-career showstoppers that display the soulful voice and sophisticated blues and R&B that Scaggs has done as well as anyone during a career that spans five decades. It is very unusual for an artist to maintain work that rivals their best fifty years on, but Boz Scaggs does, and he does it in spades.

Boz Scaggs Memphis 2013

Boz Scaggs has a new record, which is cause for excitement, albeit in recent years that has been very laid back, jazz excitement. For the first time since 1997's stellar Come On Home, Boz is making a non-jazz, R&B record. It's themed around some great Memphis soul and blues covers from the sixties and seventies, and of course it was recorded in the title town as well.

What's not to love? Well, it is very mellow, and just barely rocks a few times. This isn't a big surprise from Scaggs, a consummately smooth soul singer who hasn't really rocked hard in a very long time, but as a tribute to all things Memphis, you might expect more kick. And that would be the only nit to pick.

Scagg's sixty-eight year old voice has lost nothing. He's a smooth soul crooner of the highest order. His understatement, his nuance, his beautiful, controlled high register, it is all still intact. The guitars of Scaggs and Ray Parker, Jr. are relaxed highlights throughout, and so are the keyboards of Spooner Oldham, Charlie Hodges, Jim Cox and Lester Snell. There's occasional strings and horns, and lovely background vocals. Steve Jordan produces and plays drums, and the recording is clean, the mix nicely balanced to highlight Scaggs' vocals.

Scaggs contributes the first and last songs, and both the originals are highlights. Scaggs' Gone Baby Gone opens the record in Al Green style, and Sunny Gone closes the record with one of Boz's classic sweet, melancholic ballads. In between there's So Good To Be Here, an actual Al Green song that Boz sings to perfection, Mixed Up Shook Up Girl, a funky Ry Cooder sound-alike, and Boz's take on Rainy Night In Georgia. If there needs to be another cover of Brook Benton's classic, this is it. Scaggs sings it to the ground with yearning and restraint.

Moon Martin's Cadillac Walk finally gets the band rocking a little, and the Philly soul-meets Memphis of Can I Change My Mind shows off Scaggs' effortlessly soulful delivery. Things get more bluesy on Dry Spell (featuring Keb Mo on slide dobro) and You Got Me Cryin'. Love On A Two Way Street is a little too slick-smooth, and the cover of Steely Dan's Pearl Of The Quarter is OK, but isn't a perfect choice for this record.

The song selection holds a few nice surprises, and the performances are flawless. Delightful.

Available in all formats, including vinyl.

I have a short overview of Boz Scagg's career right here with a review of his 1997 anthology.

Perfect (or near perfect)

It's not very often that a record is perfect. What's perfect? You can listen to every song, and enjoy every song. The performance, songwriting, singing and production make a cohesive whole, a record that is of itself and unlike quite anything else (except maybe one of the other records on this list). There aren't too many of these for me, and many of them are from the sixties and seventies. I tried to stay a little more current with this list.

Many of these records are rockers. This first list is the rockers. Fast and furious, hot guitars, tight band, great songs. Often the best effort by the artist or band, these are the only reason the rest of their work is a little disappointing.

The Proclaimers Persevere 2001

Matthew Sweet Girlfriend 1991

Semisonic The Great Divide 1996

John Mellencamp Whenever We Wanted 1991

Sloan Between The Bridges 1999

The BoDeans Home 1999

Tom Caufield Long Distance Calling 1987

The Connells Still Life 1998

Gomez Split The Difference 2004

John Hiatt Bring The Family 1987

Del Amitri Some Other Sucker's Parade 1997




The rest of these are less rockers and more something else; blues, country, folk, mellower rock, and in one case too eclectic to be any one of those categories. But they are no less perfect, with every track a winner.

Dwight Yoakam This Time 1993

Boz Scaggs Come On Home 1997

Lucinda Williams Car Wheels On A Gravel Road 1998

Erin McKeown We Will Become Like Birds 2005

5 Chinese Brothers Let's Kill Saturday Night 1997

Freedy Johnson This Perfect World 1994

The Jayhawks Hollywood Town Hall 1992

Al Kooper Black Coffee 2005

Shelby Lynne I Am Shelby Lynne 1998

Kirsty MacColl Titanic Days 1993

Boz Scaggs My Time: A Boz Scaggs Anthology 1969-1997

Boz Scaggs has had an interesting history in contemporary music, and has made many excellent records in several styles. Always a consummately smooth and tasteful R&B singer, and a gifted songwriter, much of his best work has been criminally neglected.

His debut solo record from 1969, Boz Scaggs was a mix of blues, country blues, and the sweet ballads he delivers so well. While not a great album, it contains the classic Loan Me A Dime, featuring Duane Allman on slide guitar. (It's not really his debut. He recorded a record in 1965, called Boz, which may have been released only in Europe, and he played and sang on the first two Steve Miller Band records.)

His early seventies records were excellent. Moments 1971, Boz Scaggs And Band 1971, My Time 1972, and Slow Dancer 1974, were all solid records. Carefully arranged, well-written R&B with a horn section and female backup singers and Boz's fine singing, they are still good today, even if they sound a little dated. They all contain moments of driving R&B, heartfelt ballads, and wonderful mid-tempo rock with horns.

In 1976 Silk Degrees was Boz's biggest hit record and contained the single most people remember him for, Lowdown. Recorded with the musicians who would become Toto, and others, it made it's way to the Disco dance floor. Follow-ups Down Two Then Left 1977 and Middle Man 1980 attempted to repeat the Silk Dgrees formula, and Middle Man came close.

After an eight year hiatus, Scaggs returned with Other Roads 1988, a disappointing foray into the burgeoning Adult Contemporary market. In 1994, Boz reappeared with Some Change, an interesting record and mostly a return to form. Some Change is a little heavy on the ballads that suit Scagg's voice so well, but it's a good record. 1996 saw Scaggs deliver Fade Into Light, released only in Japan until 2005, the record contains some re-recordings of a few earlier songs mixed with new material. It good, but it's very mellow.

In 1997, the year of the Anthology I'm ostensibly reviewing, Boz released Come On Home. Hearkening back to his earlier blues roots, this mix of straight blues and R&B is a killer record. If you have any interest in Boz Scaggs, this one is indispensable. His singing is great, the material is excellent, and the cast of musicians is stellar. In fact, if you're at all into the blues, you should hear this record.

The Anthology serves up two CDs of Boz, and it's very good. There's too much focus on the his slick hit period from 1976-80, but that's what most people know him for, and they are good songs. There's a good introduction to his early seventies output that will surprise a few listeners, and of course Loan Me A Dime is there, all 13 minutes of it. The later years include some soundtrack songs and one-offs that are only so-so, but most of it holds up. I would have put together a different collection, but this one is darn good. Only one song from Come On Home is disappointing, but it's such a good record you need to own every song anyway.

More recently, Boz Scaggs has delivered two fine albums of jazz standards. But Beautiful 2003 and Speak Low 2008 are both excellent late-night, laid back jazz records with fine players, and Scaggs' glorious voice and subtle phrasing do justice to the great American songbook.

More and more recent Boz Scaggs here.