Slowly

Bobby Scott was only six months away from dying of cancer when, in May 1990, he teamed up with guitarist Bucky Pizzarrelli, bassist Steve La Spina and drummer Paul Jost for Slowly. Scott's voice sounds much more frail and noticeably weaker than it did on 1989's For Sentimental Reasons, although his lyrical, crystalline piano playing gives little or no indication that his health was failing. This is a very tough album to listen to — Scott had been through hell battling cancer, and on such familiar classics as "When I Fall In Love" and "Am I Blue," he sounds like someone who was well aware of his own mortality. Not that Slowly is a morbid or dark album; rather, Scott comes across as a dying man looking back on his life and recalling many good times along with some bad times and disappointments. Scott's more devoted fans will want this CD, but for casual listeners, For Sentimental Reasons would be a better introduction to his late period.