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Brian Stokes Mitchell
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List Price: $18.97
Our Price: $14.99
Your Save: $ 3.98 ( 21% )
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Manufacturer: Sony Legacy
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0828768098028
Label: Sony Legacy
Manufacturer: Sony Legacy
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Sony Legacy
Release Date: 2006-06-06
Studio: Sony Legacy
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Editorial Reviews:
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It's well known that the majority of musical-theater stars are women; save for a few exceptions (The Producers, for instance), most of the glory parts are written for them, and they're the ones who elicit fan worship. Brian Stokes Mitchell is among the rare male leads to attract the same kind of following. Few men have his easy-going charisma or his velvety pipes. Thanks to his long-overdue debut solo album (six years in the making), we now know he has even more skills than we suspected: Mitchell produced the CD, wrote the arrangements for several songs, and even conducted the orchestra on a pair of tracks. The repertoire itself isn't that unexpected, but the arrangements lean more toward lite jazz (chimes, lots of chimes) than Broadway. The singer's MO is embodied by a medley of Stephen Sondheim's "Another Hundred People" and Duke Ellington's "Take the 'A' Train." Overall the results are hit or miss, though Mitchell is such a great singer that even the misses are honorable. Opener "Something's Coming" start things off shakily, but Mitchell picks up with "The Best Is Yet to Come" and especially "Just in Time" and "How Long Has This Been Going On?" (on which he recalls Al Jarreau in his prime). The album concludes with John Bucchino's "Grateful," a pat inspirational number which Mitchell infuses with fervor. --Elisabeth Vincentelli
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Comment: "Oooooh, ahhhh!" Well worth getting. Really interesting mix of music and he blessedly does not overdo any of the ballads. No pushing like many a modern anxious Broadway diva. He doesn't need to. He seems to let the music and his natural talents float through all the different styles and songs.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent musicianship, excellent vocals
Comment: Brian Stokes Mitchell not only wears the mantle of Richard Kiley and Alfred Drake on the Broadway stage, but he shows in this album that he is fit to be one of its great arrangers and orchestrators, too. True, he does not sing in his famous baritone here, but there is more than enough of his voice and amazing arrangements for great listening pleasure.
Mitchell's take on "Something's Coming" is exciting and the Latin rhythm really gets the feet tapping. I especially love the "Take the A Train"/"Another Hundred People" combination. To use the accompaniment reminiscent of Sondheim's original arrangement of "Hundred People" under the "A Train" melody and then to use the jazzy riffs of "A Train" under "Hundred People" is nothing short of brilliant. The muted trumpets playing the "A Train" melody is simply inspired.
I have never really liked "Being Alive" until I heard Mitchell's version. (The same is true of "How Glory Goes" - his version made me feel what the entire cast recording of "Floyd Collins" did not!) The guitar solo in "Being Alive" is wonderful; my only problem is with the synth sound in this orchestration.
The only song I do not like is "How Long Has This Been Going On". To me, the iconic version is from "'Round Midnight", so I can appreciate the new interpretation technically, but I don't have to like it.
As for vocal style, I like Mitchell's departure from his usual Broadway baritone. This is the kind of CD that he should be doing this on (and not experiment with high notes in "Man of La Mancha").
Maybe one day, Mitchell will come out with the Broadway standards everyone is clamoring for (he would be a great Sky Masterson or Tommy from "Brigadoon", eh?), but I absolutely appreciate this gem of a production and hope he comes out with even more of his creative works, maybe an instrumental CD of his own compositions.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A softer, quieter Stokes
Comment: I like to think of this album as "At Home With Stokes"...you know, what he might want to share with you on his own time instaed of the sheer force he is constantly expected to use on stage. I have heard a few of these songs from him in concert long before the album ever came out and it just made me look forward to it all the more. Stokes himself has used the term "baritone poisoning," and this album demonstrates his versatility. I love the mellow mood. Stokes had plans for more abum in the future,and I truly hope they come true. He is an all-around first rate musician.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Comment: I was really looking forward to enjoying the gorgeous voice I heard in South Pacific. He could have again knocked us all dead just by singing the songs. Why all the fussy, fancy, artificial arrangements? I decided to buy another CD in the hope that it would be better, and was astonished to see that this is the only one. Hopefully, there will be many, many more in the near future, because I know the audience is there. I'm disappointed in this effort, but think he has a fabulous voice.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not the album I expected, but good anyway
Comment: I am amazed that so many people disliked this CD. I also bought it on the breeze that blew in from the South Pacific, and I was surprized and a little disappointed at first in some of the selections, but I am glad that this artist chose to go into different musical territory. And the wonderful voice of Brian Stokes Mitchell is a joy to hear whatever he chooses to sing. That said, I would really love a collection of Broadway classics from him.
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