Cool Uncle: "Break Away" [ft. Jessie Ware]
“Through your life you’ve been well-to-do,” a 27-year-old Bobby Caldwell hummed on his self-titled 1978 debut album. “Times have changed and rearranged, now no one remembers you.” He was singing about an imagined star who was way past their prime, but listening to those words in 2015, they could apply to Caldwell himself. Now 64, the fedora-clad crooner is 36 years removed from his only legitimate hit, the eternal “What You Won’t Do for Love”. Though he began his career plying an infectious kind of laid-back funk, his sound soon curdled into easy listening pap; his most recent album came out in 2005 and was called Perfect Island Nights, and he’s currently booked to play a “Jazz Super Cruise” later this month.
And yet, while few may remember Caldwell the man, his early work has remained relevant over the last couple of decades thanks to sampling and tributes: Dilla lovingly flipped Caldwell’s “Open Your Eyes” for the Common classic “The Light”, while “What You Won’t Do for Love” has been sampled by everyone from Aaliyah, to Master P, to 2Pac, and covered by Roy Ayers, Michael Bolton, and, most recently, Jessie Ware, whose luxury-brand pop has some roots in Caldwell’s champagne-sipping soul. So the existence of Cool Uncle—Caldwell’s comeback vehicle with modern R&B producer Jack Splash—and this track featuring Ware does make some kind of cosmic sense. What’s less explicable, though, is how no-shit incredible the thing sounds.
“Break Away” not only recaptures Caldwell’s glory days, but generally improves upon them. The groove struts harder and tighter than anything he’s ever recorded; think Earth, Wind & Fire by-way-of Dr Dre. Meanwhile, Caldwell’s stentorian voice—part Frank Sinatra, part Billy Joel—has aged like a fine white wine; it contrasts perfectly with Ware’s breathy lushness. The song itself feels timeless, too, as both Caldwell and Ware irresistibly offer caution to those who might be drawn in by their irresistibility: “I could break your heart one day—turn away.” It’s thoughtful advice that, given this song’s finger-snap perfection, is impossible to follow.
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