Kisses on the bottom

Description

Paul McCartney releases "Kisses on the Bottom," a jazz cover album from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s inspired by the music his parents listened to, on which the ex-Beatle is joined by Diana Krall, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Wonder for an elegant and light result. "For years, I wanted to play some of the old songs that my parents' generation used to sing for New Year's," explains Sir Paul, 69, in the album booklet, whose deliberately ambiguous title, taken from a song excerpt, can mean in French "kisses on the bottom." With producer Tommy LiPuma, he chose to set aside the most obvious choices to focus on lesser-known songs to the general public. To the point that he did not know some of them before working on the album, such as "More I Cannot Wish You," a cut from the musical "Guys & Dolls" (1950). Others are old companions of Paul McCartney like "Bye Bye Blackbird," a classic from 1926 performed by Josephine Baker, Frank Sinatra, and even Ringo Starr, which he sang with his parents. Or "Home (When Shadow Falls)," immortalized by Nat King Cole and Sam Cooke, which Sir Paul used to play an instrumental version of long before his meeting with the Beatles.