The Jazz Channel Presents Lou Rawls (BET on Jazz)

Lou Rawls' isn't the first name to come to mind if you're cataloging the great jazz singers. Or the great pop singers. Or, for that matter, the great R&B, blues, or gospel singers. There may be a couple of reasons for that. First, Rawls is versatile enough to handle all of those genres and still avoid being pigeonholed in any of them. And second, despite his impressive background (he sang on "Bring It on Home to Me" with the immortal Sam Cooke) and consistent musicality, somewhere inside Rawls is a lounge lizard trying to escape--and escape it sometimes does, including during the course of this nightclub concert recorded in 2000. Thus you have a guy who covers his own hits ("You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine"), as well as big-band versions of tunes associated with the likes of Muddy Waters ("Hoochie Coochie Man"), Bobby "Blue" Bland (T-Bone Walker's "Stormy Monday"), Louis Armstrong ("What a Wonderful World"), and Cooke; yet he also takes on schlocky fare like "Wind Beneath My Wings" (Rawls recorded it before Bette Midler's hit version), the disco-tinged "Lady Love," and the hopelessly dated "Groovy People." Time and again, though, what saves Rawls, aside from his strong, soulful voice, is the simple fact that he never forgets how to swing. Dapper, elegant, laid-back, yet completely confident, he has the audience in the palm of his hand throughout this hourlong show. Bonus DVD features include a bio and a lengthy interview. --Sam Graham