According to Hollywood folklore, when Jack Lemmon was just starting out an overzealous agent advised him to alter his last name. Critics disappointed with one of his films or performances would, he insisted, surely find it too irresistible to link "Lemmon" to its homonym. The same advise might apply to a jazz singer whose first name is Beat.
But, just as Lemmon rarely needed to worry about negative reviews, Swiss-born vocalist Beat Kaestli is simply too gifted to be concerned with censuring, homonymic wordplay. (For the record, Kaestli's first name is pronounced "bay-at" and was originally spelled Beat, before the accent disappeared several years ago).
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Livingston Taylor is now working at lightning speed. It's only been four years since There You Are Again was issued. Before that, it had been more than a decade. Taylor's not exactly worried about working the circuit. Besides being a professor at the Berklee College of Music, he tours on occasion, playing prestigious festivals and folk clubs. He also commands the respect of some of the finest musicians in America (if not on the planet), and has no trouble getting them into the studio when he decides to record. Recorded in Franklin, TN, Last Alaska Moon is a case in point. To mention a few of the expert players who grace this album, some of his compatriots here include bassist Leland Sklar; drummer Steve Gadd; guitarists Vince Gill, Chris Rodriguez, and J.T. Corenflos; keyboard ace Shane Keister, and the backing vocals of Andrea Zonn. Produced by Glenn Rosenstein, the set includes ten originals, "Answer My Prayer" with Carole Bayer Sager, and an utterly reinvented version of Michael Jackson's "The Girl Is Mine" in duet with nephew Ben Taylor. The title track reflects his polished folk stylings just as "Everybody Is Just Like Me" walks the jazz side of adult pop and could have been recorded by Michael Franks with its breezy swing and slippery vocal tags.
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