" data-original-title="" title="">Giacomo Gates was almost forty years old when someone suggested that he try his hand at singing. Luckily for the rest of us, Gates thought that was a good idea, moved to New York City later that year (1989) and began singing in clubs. Six years later Gates recorded his first CD, Blue Skies, and Everything Is Cool is the eighth. Simply put, no one on the scene today sings quite like Gates—and that is a compliment. He has a knack for finding splendid songs from years gone by and amplifying their inherent intelligence and charm, thus presenting them to a new generation of listeners whose taste buds have surely been compromised by today's banal and repetitive rhythms and lyrics.

In other words, Gates doesn't sing down to an audience but raises it instead to his level of acuity and eloquence. If he has any misgivings about that, they are quickly erased on the opening number, as Gates affirms that "Everything Is Cool." Marvelous lyric by