Boz Scaggs

William Royce Scaggs (known professionally as Boz Scaggs; born June 8, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He gained fame in the 1960s as a guitarist and one-time lead singer with the Steve Miller Band, and in the 1970s with several solo Top 20 hit singles in the United States, including the hits "Lowdown" and "Lido Shuffle" from the critically acclaimed album Silk Degrees (1976), which peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200. Scaggs continues to write, record music, and tour.

Early life and career

Scaggs was born in Canton, Ohio, the son of a traveling salesman. The family moved to McAlester, Oklahoma, then to Plano, Texas (at that time a farm town), just north of Dallas. He attended a Dallas private school, St. Mark's School of Texas, where schoolmate Mal Buckner gave him the nickname "Bosley", later shortened to "Boz".

After learning guitar at the age of 12, he met Steve Miller at St. Mark's School. In 1959, he became the vocalist for Miller's band, the Marksmen. The pair later attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison together, playing in blues bands like the Ardells and the Fabulous Knight Trains.

Boz Scaggs (album)

Boz Scaggs is the second album by Boz Scaggs; it was released in 1969. After two years with the Steve Miller Band, Scaggs once again set out on his own, recording at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama. The other musicians on the album include Duane Allman, Eddie Hinton, Jimmy Johnson, Barry Beckett, David Hood, Roger Hawkins and Al Lester. It was produced by Rolling Stone founder and editor Jann Wenner, Scaggs, and Marlin Greene.

The album (SD-8239) sold slowly despite positive reviews. Originally mixed by Stax Records' engineer Terry Manning, it remained in the catalog for a number of years and was deleted around 1974 or 1975.

In 1977 the album was remixed in Los Angeles by Tom Perry and was released by Atlantic (SD-19166) in 1978 to spotlight Duane Allman's guitar playing, with the same cover art. As well as the guitar, the remix brings several things forward in the mix such as horns and keyboards while burying the background vocals ; there is also an odd 30 second volume drop at the end of "Finding Her". This remix was the only complete version of the album available on CD until the Audio Fidelity remastered release of December 2013, which restored Manning's original master mix in its entirety.

But Beautiful (Boz Scaggs album)

But Beautiful is an album of pop standards by Boz Scaggs, released in 2003. It reached number one on the Billboard Top Jazz albums chart in 2004.

Reception

Allmusic derided almost every aspect of the album, beginning with the song material ("Apparently, old rock singers who have exhausted their commercial appeal and have sung all the pop and soul standards have but one place to turn -- the American popular songbook.") and ending with Scaggs's vocal delivery ("His off-hand phrasing sometimes is too casual and he delivers the tunes predictably, never finding a way to make these much-heard songs sound fresh."). They praised the decision to use a small quartet of solid performers instead of heavy orchestrations, but concluded "even longtime Boz Scaggs fans may not find a reason to spin this more than once."

Track listing

But Beautiful

But Beautiful may refer to:

But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz

But Beautiful is a book about jazz and jazz musicians by Geoff Dyer. First published in 1991, it is the first of Dyer's so-called "genre-defying" works.

Summary

Like Michael Ondaatje's Coming Through Slaughter, But Beautiful takes a fictionalised look at jazz. Divided into seven sections each covering a different legendary jazz figure, it uses historical details, photographs and music to paint the self-destruction and inspiration behind genius. Short vignettes of Duke Ellington and Harry Carney's famous between-gig road trips are interspersed throughout. It concludes with a seven-part analysis of jazz styles and influences that reads more like conventional music criticism.

Reception

The book is one of Dyer's most acclaimed works. Pianist Keith Jarrett said it was:

In The New York Times Book Review, critic Ralph Blumenthal wrote, "Like the music he evokes so lyrically, Geoff Dyer's But Beautiful, a quasi-biographical critique of nine jazz legends, relies heavily on improvisation. You don't have to be a jazz buff to savor this book—but you may be one when you're done." In The New York Times, critic Richard Bernstein discussed the book's "electrifying, typically gemlike passages of criticism," and called the work, "marvelously lyrical."

But Beautiful (Nancy Wilson album)

But Beautiful is a 1969 album by Nancy Wilson.

Track listing

Personnel

References