Album Notes

RON KAPLAN One of today’s finest singers of jazz standards, Ron Kaplan has carved out an exemplary career over the course of five albums by following in the footsteps left by legends such as Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Nat King Cole and Tony Bennett. One of Kaplan’s best albums, LOUNGING AROUND, captures the mood and ambience of a small, hot jazz combo as if they were mesmerizing a martini-sipping crowd at an intimate lounge in any city, U.S.A. Although recorded before his last album, SALOON, the LOUNGING AROUND CD had limited distribution (mostly sold at concerts) when originally released and it eventually went out of print. Now remixed, remastered and substantially restructured, LOUNGING AROUND is receiving its first national distribution and full marketing campaign. Ron Kaplan's LOUNGING AROUND and his other CDs are available at online sites (such as cdbaby.com, towerrecords.com), digital download locations (including iTunes.com, rhapsody.com) and Kaplan's own ronkaplan.com. LOUNGING AROUND features a full band of talented jazz musicians who went into the studio and served up the perfect backdrop for Kaplan’s rich, warm voice that is as tasteful as a fine wine, a bold and hearty vintage aged to smoothness like decades-old cabernet. The band members featured throughout are Larry Scala on guitar, Perry Thoorsell on bass and Guiseppe Merolla on drums. Special guests are Donny McCaslin Jr. (who has played on two other Kaplan recordings) on tenor saxophone on five tunes, Steve Czarnecki on Hammond B3 organ on three tracks, and Dmitri Matheny (a protégé of Art Farmer) on flugelhorn on “How Insensitive.” The musicians work well together (Scala and Thoorsell have played together for years) and each gets the chance to solo at some point. Kaplan was performing at the Santa Cruz Jazz Festival when Scala approached the singer about playing together and soon they did some gigs around Northern California. According to Kaplan, “LOUNGING AROUND is full of tunes reflecting lost love and relationships that don’t work, but with an undercurrent of redemption and hope always present, which is especially reflected in the closing piece, ‘What a Wonderful World’. The whole album has a blue feel to it. Searching for love, finding love and often losing love affects us all so strongly. These are feelings that resonate with virtually everyone.” Even though the songs would all be considered traditional jazz, the selections are quite diverse. There are several ballads, blues numbers ("Blues in the Night" and "No One Ever Tells You"), a Brazilian melody by Antonio Carlos Jobim ("How Insensitive"), Cole Porter’s uptempo “Just One of Those Things,” the Lambert Hendricks & Ross self-pity wallow “Moanin’,” and jazz perennials such as Duke Ellington’s "Caravan." Kaplan is not afraid to perform songs which are strongly associated with other performers, especially “What a Wonderful World,” made famous by Louis Armstrong. “Of course I have been influenced by the great male jazz singers, but many people are surprised when I tell them I have been equally inspired by female singers. Women seem especially adept at digging up great repertoire. Julie London was a big influence. On this album I do Arthur Hamilton’s ‘Cry Me a River’ that was made famous by Peggy Lee in the Fifties, but I especially loved Julie’s version of it which had simple backing and really let her voice come through. On this CD I also sing ‘I Surrender Dear’ which I first fell in love with when I heard it on a Julie London album.” Ron has superb command of his flexible baritone that literally cocoons the listener within the cozy atmosphere of images he sings about and obviously believes in. His trademarks are his sophisticated phrasing and the mature tonal qualities of his vocals. In addition to his career as a concert performer and recording artist, Kaplan also is the founder and executive director of The American Songbook Preservation Society, a non-profit or