Steve Tyrell

What more can you say about the greatest songs ever written? Nothing, really: it’s best just to have them sung, and sung well. That’s exactly what Steve Tyrell did on his acclaimed 1999 album A New Standard, which matched the vocalist with seventeen classic American songs. That album went on defy the skeptics, having now reigned more than 18 months atop Billboard’s Jazz Chart (and counting!) while establishing Steve as one of today’s premier singers of standards. Now Steve Tyrell returns with Standard Time, a new collection on Columbia Records, an even more self-assured account of sixteen immortal tunes from the great American songbook.

The secret to Steve’s success is no secret at all. With his solid R&B/blues background, Steve brings to the music an exhilarating earthiness no lounge crooner could hope to attain. Add to that his teaming with great jazz and big band players of the era — from trumpeters Clark Terry and Harry “Sweets” Edison to harmonica virtuoso Toots Theilemans — and Steve had found a truly winning combination. “The people that wrote and performed this music were some of the hippest people that ever lived,” says Steve. “By getting involved with these cats, and coming at it from a blues-based background, the songs get back to their roots.”

Given a set-list that includes “As Time Goes By,” Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust,” and George Gershwin’s “Our Love is Here to Stay,” who can argue? Produced by Steve, co-produced by Bob Mann and Stephanie Tyrell, Standard Time swings in a most distinctive manner. “I believe the blues influence is what makes the songs sound new,” says Steve, “and that’s where these songs really were at. All the great players from that era were blues-based.” Other guest players on the album include piano great Joe Sample and guitarist Bob Mann.

From the rowdy New Orleans horns of “What A Little Moonlight Can Do” (which features a very rare vocal accompaniment from trumpeter Clark Terry) to the syncopated rhythms of “It Had To Be You,” Steve curls around a lyric with his trademark whisky-voiced charm. Whether on the elegant “Someone To Watch Over Me” or Cole Porter’s sparkling “Every Time We Say Goodbye,” Steve always elicits the heart and soul of a song, bringing the best out of his world-class players.

The album is replete with examples of “full-circle” musicianship. Saxophonist Plas Johnson, who solos on “That Old Feeling,” also played on Sinatra’s original version some fifty years ago. Toots Theilemans, who accompanies Steve on “Stardust,” played that same song with Benny Goodman back in the heyday of the Big Band era (when Goodman first heard Toots play the song back in the 1940s, he brought the Belgian-born harmonica player to America, launching his illustrious career). Jane Monheit — whose latest album Come Dream With Me has become a #1 smash on the jazz charts — duets with Steve on the delightfully sassy “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” while Steve and the late great “Sweets” Edison share a special musical moment on the album’s improvised closer “Remembering Sweets.” It’s fitting homage not only to one of the best instrumentalists in the history of jazz, but also to the joy of music making that defines Steve Tyrell.

Growing up in the heart of Houston’s notorious 5th Ward (“I was the only white kid within ten miles,” he recalls), Steve was drawn to the sound of the region’s special brand of blues and R&B. His teen years often found him on stage or in a local studio with such acts as CL & the Pictures or the Art Boatwright Band. At the same time, he was enthralled by the music of Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Ben E. King, Chuck Jackson, Jerry Butler, and Jimmy Reed.

“Those guys were my heroes,” says Tyrell. “That’s where I got my instincts.” His passion for music led him to a promotion gig with a Houston record distributor, while at the same time he expanded his recording experience producing local artists like Sonny & the Sunglows and Barbara Lynn. He also spent time traveling to Cosmo’s Studio in New Orleans where he worked with Mac Rebennack (aka Dr. John), Allen Toussaint and Aaron Neville.

By the time he was 19, Steve had moved to New York to work for the independent label Scepter Records. It wasn’t long before he was in the studio cutting sides with Dionne Warwick, the Shirelles, Maxine Brown, and former Del-Vikings vocalist Chuck Jackson. Around the same time, Steve hooked up with some of the greatest names in American songwriting: Burt Bacharach & Hal David, Gerry Goffin & Carole King, and Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, all of whom relied on the young Tyrell in those heady early days. Steve also took fellow Houstonian B.J. Thomas under his wing. Thomas was thrust into the limelight with his smash recording of the Bacharach/David-penned “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” winner of the 1970 Best Song Oscar™. Steve went on to write such pop hits as the chart-topping “How Do You Talk To An Angel,” and co-produce Linda Ronstadt’s Grammy-winning singles “Don’t Know Much” (a duet with Aaron Neville) and “Somewhere Out There” (a duet with James Ingram).

His 1999 debut album, A New Standard, was actually many years in the making. Steve had long been encouraged by friends, family, and total strangers to break out on his own as a recording artist. As a producer accustomed to working behind the scenes, Steve was taken aback by the positive response following his high-profile performances of “The Way You Look Tonight” (in the 1991 “Father Of The Bride” remake with Steve Martin) and “Give Me The Simple Life” and “On The Sunny Side Of The Street” (from the 1995 sequel “Father Of The Bride Part II). Then came a fortuitous encounter.

“I was running in the park and by pure chance I ran into Louie Bellson,” says Tyrell. “Louie is one of the greatest drummers of the Big Band era. We got to talking and eventually I played him some of the ‘Father Of The Bride’ stuff I’d done. He loved it and encouraged me to do a record.” Because of Louie, Steve began to realize that a lot of the players from the era were still alive and playing great! Steve fell in love with the songs as well as the musicians and that passion launched him on a crusade to shine a light on these national treasures. It has been his joy and privilege to have had a hand in keeping the songs alive.

The first album (like his new one) featured performances by the late Harry “Sweets” Edison, known for his work with Count Basie, Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday; Toots Theilemans; sax player Clark Terry (“My musical godfather,” claims Steve), who worked with Duke Ellington and Count Basie; and Plas Johnson, the tenor sax great who made “The Pink Panther” soundtrack so unforgettable. Other players included Joe Sample and guitarist Bob Mann (James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Neil Diamond), both of whom brought their skills as arrangers, producers, and performers to the two albums.

Released with little fanfare in 1999, A New Standard (Atlantic Records) eventually became a Top 5 Jazz smash, surpassing 90 weeks on the charts. It didn’t happen with big promotion budgets, massive advertising or broad airplay, it was almost entirely a grassroots word-of-mouth campaign, with one person discovering the record, buying ten copies and sharing them with friends. Those people shared the music with their friends and, little by little, the album had picked up the kind of momentum that launches trends and makes industry powerhouses sit up and take notice.

Over the months since the first album came out and the second was recorded, Steve has taken his act on the road, performing in clubs across the country. The appeal proved both broad and deep, which should not surprise anyone who understands the eternal appeal of the music. Says Steve, “When you can sing an 80-year old song and reach 20-year-old kids, you know something’s happening.”