If there's one word that comes to mind while listening to 2018's
The Capitol Studio Sessions -- the debut album from part-time jazz pianist and full-time
Jeff Goldblum impersonator
Jeff Goldblum -- it's charm. Joking aside, just as with his acting,
Goldblum's musical stage presence percolates with his unmistakable charisma, and further cements his long-standing persona as a witty, quirky, gregarious presence. While the album often feels like
Goldblum giving one big wink and a smile to his adoring fans after another, part of the fun is that he has the chops to back it up. Having studied piano growing up in Pittsburgh and played lounge gigs throughout much of his career,
Goldblum is certainly a gifted performer. While he hands much of the improvisational work over to his bandmates, as a bandleader he acquits himself ably throughout the album, with a warm harmonic sensibility and wonderfully swinging style on full display. Here, he is captured live at the storied Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, backed by his longtime ensemble of studio-pros
the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra (lovingly named after a family friend in Pittsburgh). Joining him are a select cadre of special guests including singers
Haley Reinhart and
Imelda May, trumpeter
Till Bronner, and on the giddy, self-referential duet "Me and My Shadow," singer/comedian
Sarah Silverman. While
Goldblum is the main attraction, he smartly spreads the spotlight, allowing
Reinhart and
May to sashay their ways through saucy renditions of "My Baby Just Cares For Me," "Straighten Up and Fly Right," and "Come-On-A-My-House." Similarly, he gives
Bronner a plethora of solo time, with tracks like the ballad "It Never Entered My Mind," and the organ-accented groover "Don't Mess with Mister T.” One of the many impressive aspects of the
Capitol Studio Sessions is just how balanced
Goldblum's skills are as he deftly moves his audience from perky vocal standards to swinging instrumental numbers -- each transition aided, of course, with some very charming stage banter. ~ Matt Collar