LIZ COLE WANTS TO BE HAPPY,
MAKING US HAPPY SINGING ABOUT IT
Liz Cole is having an album debut gig at Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood on January 29, and it was thrilling. Her standard-drenched debut album is also a winner. I Want To Be Happy is just the kind of unpretentious lounge jazz that brightens the spirit. Perhaps unfamilar by name, her jazz musicians on various selections are a bevy of L.A.’s best: Larry Koonse on guitar, Otmaro Ruiz on piano, Darek Oles, Edwin Livingston, and Jonathan Richards on bass, Jackson Irvine on vibes, and Aarón Serfaty on drums.
First, if you’re into musicals, get this: Fred E. Ahlert & Roy Turk’s “Mean to Me” (which I thought was written by Fats Waller all these years as it was featured in Ain’t Misbehavin’) is given a subtle swing; The title song is from Broadway’s No, No Nannette by the great Vince Youmans and Irving Caesar (the boys who wrote “Tea for Two”) is an up-tempo delight; Cole Porter’s “You’re Sensational,” introduced by Frank Sinatra in the 1956 film High Society is beyond pleasurable; and rare is the coverage of George Bruns & Floyd Huddleston’s “Love” from Disney’s Robin Hood, let alone with a sweet combo. Erroll Garner, Eubie Blake, and Hoagy Carmichael are also featured, but the surprise is some Brazilian jazz and, for the final cut, the sweetest cover I’ve ever heard of “I’m Still Here” by Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan. This California girl sure did put me in a New York state of mind.
LIZ COLE
I Want to Be Happy
Now Streaming on All Platforms
self-released on January 28, 2025
for more info, visit Liz Cole
