Jack Jones Featuring Joey DeFrancesco: ArtWork

If a singer's reputation is so impressive that he or she is able to enlist a full orchestra (with bassist John Clayton conducting) and the late organ maestro Joey DeFrancesco as featured soloist, that is certainly enough to warrant attention. The singer in this instance is two-time Grammy winner Jack Jones, the orchestra an assemblage of some of the Los Angeles area's finest musicians, enlarged by a thirty-member string section.

On one hand, Jones remains a smooth and personable interpreter of American popular song; on the other, he was nearing his eighty- fifth birthday when ArtWork was recorded, and he is more a stylist and storyteller than a songbird here. If pressed for a description, it must be that he more or less talks in rhythm and always on-key, and can still reach the required notes when necessary, even with some difficulty. Think Rex Harrison without the British accent or Robert Preston with less power.

Those who remember Jones from his heyday in the '50s and '60s may either warm to those memories and embrace the album, or lament the loss of the phrasing, control and animation that made his early recordings so remarkable. Either response is perfectly understandable, as this is not the same Jack Jones. Period. He simply does the best he can with what he has. For some, that may be more than enough; for others, not nearly enough. Make no mistake, Jones can still sing, simply not the way he used to. While the voice is not close to what it once was, experience has taught him warmth and pacing, and he makes the most of those skills.

When all is said and done, when one is a singer that is what he or she does. And Jones has always been a singer, taking his cue from father Allan Jones who starred in a number of films, including the Marx Brothers classic, A Night at the Opera; he recorded the hit song "The Donkey Serenade," introduced in that film. The younger Jones has had a long and illustrious career, and he pours whatever is left in the tank into every note on ArtWork. Even so, he is no more than a shadow of his younger self, which must be considered and acknowledged. As for the rest, DeFrancesco is superb as always on organ, tenor sax or trumpet, the orchestra smooth and dependable. For diehard fans of Jack Jones, ArtWork could be one last treasure to embrace.

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