Product details
- Label Gray Cat Records
- Artist Boz Scaggs
- Format 2LP
- Country United States
- Released Date 2003
- Genre Blues
- Sealed Yes
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But Beautiful by Boz Scaggs.
When Boz Scaggs stepped into the world of the American songbook with "But Beautiful," he set aside the blue eyed soul and radio polish that made his name and reached instead for something quieter and more intimate. Released in 2003 on Gray Cat Records, this is a jazz record in the truest sense, a program of standards delivered with restraint, warmth, and an evident love for the material.
Across four sides, Scaggs works his way through a collection of ballads and torch songs that reward patience and close listening. The album opens gently with "What's New?" and "Never Let Me Go," setting a mood of late night reflection that carries through "How Long Has This Been Going On?" and into the second side. There you will find "Sophisticated Lady," the title track "But Beautiful," and a tender reading of "Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered."
The back half deepens the spell. Side C pairs "Easy Living" with "I Should Care," while the closing side offers "You Don't Know What Love Is" and "For All We Know," two songs that leave the listener suspended in the album's hushed, unhurried atmosphere. It is a sequence built for the format, meant to be played on vinyl with the lights low and no reason to rush.
The band Scaggs assembled here is small and sympathetic, a group that understands the value of space. Paul Nagel handles piano duties and also arranged the sessions, giving the record its harmonic frame and its gentle sense of forward motion. John Shifflett on bass and Jason Lewis on drums provide a supple, understated rhythmic foundation, while Eric Crystal's saxophone adds color and a vocal quality that answers and shadows Scaggs throughout.
The care extended to the sound itself. Scaggs produced the album, and the sessions passed through the hands of a deep engineering team including Chris Tabarez, Jeff Cressman, Michael Rodriguez, and Steve MacMillan. Joel Moss handled the mix, and the record was mastered by the legendary Bernie Grundman, whose name on a jazz pressing is a mark of fidelity and analog warmth.
For collectors drawn to the standards tradition and to artists who cross genres with genuine feeling, "But Beautiful" is a rewarding find. It captures a familiar voice in an unfamiliar setting, treating each song with tenderness and letting the arrangements breathe. This is Boz Scaggs as interpreter rather than showman, and the result is an album that sits comfortably alongside the classic vocal jazz records that inspired it.
Pressing Details:
Track Listing:
A1. What's New?
A2. Never Let Me Go
A3. How Long Has This Been Going On?
B1. Sophisticated Lady
B2. But Beautiful
B3. Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered
C1. Easy Living
C2. I Should Care
D1. You Don't Know What Love Is
D2. For All We Know
Credits:
John Shifflett - Bass
Jason Lewis - Drums
Chris Tabarez - Engineer
Jeff Cressman - Engineer
Michael Rodriguez (2) - Engineer
Steve MacMillan - Engineer
Bernie Grundman - Mastered By
Joel Moss - Mixed By
Paul Nagel - Piano, Arranged By
Boz Scaggs - Producer
Eric Crystal - Saxophone
Notes:
℗ © 2003 Gray Cat Records.
Artist: Boz Scaggs
Format: 2LP
Genre: Blues
Label: Gray Cat Records
Catalog Number: GCV4000
Release Year: 2003
Country: United States
Condition: Sealed (New)
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