Bobby’s broad appeal

Young Chang

Bobby Caldwell may very well be the entertainer that families are

looking for.

His multi-generation style appeals to everyone from his mother Carolyn

Caldwell, who says it’s “eerie” how much her son sounds like Frank

Sinatra in his renditions of ‘40s and ‘50s standards, to younger fans

swelling the contemporary swing resurgence.

“He has reinvented himself these last two years going into the big

band era, but there are two sides of him -- the R&B;, which he loves

doing, and the new big band thing,” Carolyn Caldwell said. “He does them

both equally well.”

Bobby Caldwell, whose more than 20-year singing/songwriting career has

included penning such hits as “Next Time I Fall,” will perform tonight at

the Hyatt Newporter Summer Jazz Series.

Two years ago, he crooned Sinatra classics, as well as his own R&B; at

the same festival. This time, Caldwell will perform hits from his new

album, “Time & Again,” as well as older chart-toppers such as “Stuck on

You.”

“I have 14 albums, and I’m doing what were the most popular songs from

each individual album,” the 49-year-old said.

He calls himself a “blue-eyed soul singer.” He calls his music R&B; or

pop -- why smooth jazz stations play his creations, as well as classics

by Michael MacDonald, for example, is a wonder to him. And music from the

‘40s and ‘50s -- including such Sinatra classics as “I’ve Got the World

on a String” and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” -- are worth reviving, in

his opinion.Caldwell caught “the bug,” as he calls it, as a kid and in

the most inevitable, “genetically unavoidable” way.

The New York native grew up in a show biz family with a childhood

speckled with many a celebrity party. He was surrounded by music, he

said, and got his first guitar when he was 10.

He taught himself to play, performed at school and in private bands,

and got his first record deal at age 27.

More than a dozen albums later, Caldwell says one of his personal

favorite numbers is “April Moon,” a song written about three years ago

for his album “Come Rain or Come Shine.”

“It was at a very sad point in my life,” he said. “And I was toying

around with this idea about this guy who’s confiding in the moon because

there’s no one else to talk to.”

The question that pressed on his mind was, “How do you make a lyric

that’s going to be indelible and endearing and not be corny?”

The answer goes something like this: “April moon, you know me. I have

wept here before, can you believe I went back to her for more. I just

hate that side of me.”

Caldwell’s mother enjoys her son’s songwriting candor. But then again,

she loves pretty much every side of him.

“I’m proud of him in his music and his performance and songwriting,”

she said. “And also, as a son, he is wonderful.”

FYI

WHAT: Bobby Caldwell will perform at the Hyatt Newporter Summer Jazz

Series

WHEN: 8 p.m. today

WHERE: The Hyatt Newporter, 1107 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach

COST: $40

CALL: (949) 729-6013