Barry Manilow finally makes some music

ijag, I've determined over the years that you do have questionable taste in some things, but on Manilow, you've always been on the right side.

 

A man who wants to pay tribute to Chopin - in a musical manner, not by remixing notes and trying to claim it as their own - is doing something right.

 

A neighbor of my dad had an old hearse with a bumper sticker on the back that read: "Bury Manilow"

 

Yes, he did a lot of schmaltz. But if you really like jazz, you will not own an album better than Manilow's 2 a.m. Paradise Cafe.

 

Um, thanks?

 

I believe that's the one in which he recorded the entire album in one overnight session. He had one of those, I know, just not sure which one.

 

Does that mean I'm going to hell too?

 

Now are these real violins that have strings and have to be played with a bow? Or are they plastic violins with red, green, and blue buttons to be used to play "Violin Hero"?

 

1. Kind Of Blue - Miles Davis
2. A Love Supreme - John Coltrane
3. Mingus Ah Um - Charles Mingus
4. Brilliant Corners - Thelonious Monk
5. Time Out - Dave Brubeck
6. The Blues & The Abstract Truth - Oliver Nelson
7. The Incredible Jazz Guitar - Wes Montgomery
8. Song For My Father - Horace Silver
9. Out To Lunch - Eric Dolphy
10. The Shape Of Jazz To Come - Ornette Coleman
11. Virtuoso - Joe Pass
12. Giant Steps - John Coltrane
13. In A Silent Way - Miles Davis
14. Somethin' Else - Cannonball Adderley
15. Idle Moments - Grant Green
16. Bitches Brew - Miles Davis
17. Sax Colossus - Sonny Rollins
18. Speak No Evil - Wayne Shorter
19. Inner Mounting Flame - Mahavishnu Orchestra
20. Sidewinder - Lee Morgan
21. Birth Of The Cool - Miles Davis
22. Black Codes (From The Underground) - Wynton Marsalis
23. Conference Of The Birds - Dave Holland
24. Monk's Dream - Thelonius Monk
25. Bright Size Life - Pat Metheny

 

John Zorn. </eot>

 

Yes, that's the one. And it's not that it was in just one overnight session. It's that the entire 49 minutes or so of the album was played and recorded in one continuous 49-minute session without stopping between songs.

 

I guess I can keep it a secret any longer.

I'm coming out of the closet...

...as a Manilow junkie.

American Bandstand, You Ought to be Home With Me, and Daybreak are my top 3 Barry tunes.