AMG Review of Close to You

Al Campbell
All Music Guide

Close to You is pianist David Hazeltine's fourth Criss Cross release, and judging by the title you would assume this offering contains a sweet Burt Bacharach tune, a few mellow standards, and some gently peppered originals. All that is true but the material is executed with numerous excursions off the beaten path. Close to You was an enormous hit by the Carpenters in 1970. In the hands of Hazeltine, Peter Washington on bass, and Joe Farnsworth on drums, this trio transforms the well-known melody into an accelerated funky waltz! The Hazeltine originals "Minor Adjustment" and "Blues for P. Wash" find the musicians exhibiting their obvious rapport combined with some brief, yet heated, soloing. Even the pleasantly lyrical arrangements of tried and true standards like "I'm Old Fashioned," "I'll Only Miss Her," "Willow Weep for Me," and "You Don't Know What Love Is" contain a bit more emotion than what is usually wrung from them.