Album Review: Crooner by Milton Nascimento

Crooner was apparently intended to be a program for a New Year's Eve ball, incorporating Latin jazz standards such as "Mas Que Nada" and two or three pop favorites ("Beat It" and "Only You") into a group of songs for dancing close and reminiscing. Unfortunately, Nascimento often sounds like a wedding singer gone bad, and it's hard to sit through his version of "Beat It" with a straight face. The romance of the Spanish lyrics might hold your interest through the first song or two, but then the '80s elevator-music feel begins to shine through. In "Mas Que Nada," his voice is never powerful enough to generate any true get-up-and-swing Latin excitement. If you decide to avoid sure humiliation in your roommate's eyes by programming "Beat It" and "Ooh Child" out and listening to only the Spanish songs, you may be able to enjoy a few of the easy beats as you close your eyes and dream of old jazz clubs and big bands. But somehow Nascimento's tribute to the era still sounds like a cheap imitation, complete with anachronistic R&B beats and some off-key harmonies. It's hard to believe he won a Grammy in 1997 for Best World Music Album. "Crooner" might work for a millennium party in Rio de Janeiro, Nascimento's hometown, where versions of "Beat It" may be hard to come by, but if you're looking for jazz standards for your own New Year's bash, stick with the originals. C-