Florida-born Eric Hollaway began singing in public when he was five years old and became a popular singer at weddings. He was discovered singing in a local choir and received a voice scholarship to be classically trained. Some years later a friend introduced him to the world of commercial voiceovers and he became a full-time voice actor advertising clients such as Delta Airlines, Amazon Audible, ESPN, Daimler, Mercedes Benz and multi-national food company General Mills.
Hollaway has a very low voice – one octave below basso profundo. He also has a range spanning almost five octaves, although the extremities of the range are not evident on Jazzish. In this recording he provides a personal take on eight jazz and pop standards, opening with Johnson and Hudman’s Playing Your Game, which was first released by Barry White in 1977, an appropriate choice here given White’s own low voice.
Then we have Eugene McDaniels’ Feel Like Makin’ Love, originally recorded by Roberta Flack in 1974. This is followed by Usher Raymond’s Here I Stand, written and recorded by him in 2008. Bricusse and Newley’s Pure Imagination was written for the 1971 movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and sung on the film by Gene Wilder.
Norah Jones’ Come Away With Me was written and recorded by her in 2002. Autumn Leaves, with lyrics translated from French to English by Johnny Mercer in 1950, has been recorded by many artists including Nat King Cole, Doris Day and Frank Sinatra. In 1955, Sinatra also recorded the album’s penultimate number, Hilliard and Mann’s In The Wee Small Hours. To close, Hollaway sings Billy Strayhorn’s Lush Life, first recorded in 1948 by Nat King Cole.
Hollaway is ably supported in his distinctive, low-register exploration of these standards by the New York-based Venezuelan pianist Benito Gonzalez and his colleagues. Gonzalez performed with Kenny Garrett for seven years and has also played with Jackie McLean, Azar Lawrence and Pharoah Sanders amongst others. If bass vocals in a “jazzish” setting are your cup of tea, this album should appeal.
Discography
Playing Your Game; Feel Like Makin’ Love; Here I Stand; Pure Imagination; Come Away With Me; Autumn Leaves; In The Wee Small Hours; Lush Life (35.46)
Hollaway (v); Benito Gonzalez (p, kyb); Glenn Douglas (kyb); Peter Mongaya (g); Will Slater (b); Josh Green (d); Cedric Givens (pc). New York, unknown date.
Nemblau Entertainment