Something Else! sneak peek: Freddy Cole, “My Mother Told Me” from Singing the Blues (2014)

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Freddy Cole is calling his new album Singing the Blues but, if this complex and involving advance track is any indiciation, his forthcoming HighNote release promises much more.

From the first, there’s a fascinating juxtaposition happening between the jazz-kissed brushes and the rootsy bass — something mirrored in the swirling depths of the Cole vocal that follows. And they’re just getting started on what becomes a deeply involving amalgam of styles.

As Cole works his way through this perfectly balanced moment of sorrowful stoicism, tenor saxophonist Harry Allen adds another splash of saucy attitude — even as pianist John di Martino, drummer Curtis Boyd, bassist Elias Bailey and guitarist Randy Napoleon work the lyric’s edges with knife-edged wit. The results, part a project that’s due on September 22, 2014, add intriguing new layers to the age-old idea of Singing the Blues.

“My Mother Told Me,” sad but never broken, bluesy but with a flinty swing attitude, would work just as well as a juke joint’s last-call lament as it would as a cool-customer mid-set exhalation inside a hipster downtown cafe.

Nick DeRiso