CD: Joe Sardaro

Joe Sardaro, Lost In The Stars (Catch My Drift). Last year, I mentioned in a review of Joe Sardaro’s Protégé that the singer’s 1986 vinyl album Lost In The Stars had never been reissued. Now, happily, it is on CD. Sardaro recruited high-level backing for his first recording; drummer Shelly Manne, bassist Monte Budwig, guitarist Al Viola, saxophonist/flutist Sam Most and pianist John Knapp. To quote my 1987 Jazz Times review of the LP, “A light baritone without spectacular range or notable resonance, he depends on taste, swing, diction and lyric interpretation. Those elements serve him well…” Most’s tenor sax solos are delightful. The CD adds five songs recently recorded by Sardaro. He sings them pleasantly but with less steady intonation than in the original eleven.