Cliff Beach - You Showed Me The Way (2024)

I must honestly admit that I have never heard of the African-American artist Cliff Beach, but this one makes up for that. This singer, pianist and composer could well pass for the love child of Ella Fitzgerald and Stevie Wonder.

On his latest CD, which will be released next month, he puts Ella in the spotlight. Cliff was born in Washington, D.C., and soon sang in church. He then learned to play the piano and attended Berklee College of Music, where he earned a BM in Music Business/Management.

Launching his professional career in 2003, he continued his studies at Pepperdine University, where he obtained an MBA in Marketing. He has released an album every year for the past ten years, starting with his 2013 debut 'Who the Funk is Cliff Beach?'. He continued with radio, TV, licensing, publishing and a record label. Cliff absorbed various music genres such as jazz, soul, gospel, country and pop.

This time he opted for a complete album of jazz standards, plus an original track. He dedicates the album to Ella, because of the inspiration she gave him. However, Cliff does not play piano now, and is assisted by Munenori “Moon” Kishi (keyboards), Evan Mackey (trombone), Rubén Salinas (sax), Sam Williams (sax), Luis Cárdena-Casillas (trumpet), Satoshi Kirisawa (drums), Andy Moresi (guitar), Leah Concialdi (sax) and Joe Ferruzzo (trumpet).

Here you can hear funky covers of 'That Old Black Magic', 'Round Midnight', 'Love You Madly', 'Alright, OK You Win', 'Honeysuckle Rose', 'How High the Moon', 'I'm Beginning to See the Light', 'It's Alright with Me' and 'A-Tisket, A-Tasket'. But also ballads such as 'How Long Has This Been Going On?', 'Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most' and 'You Showed Me the Way'. He concludes with his own composition 'The Gift of the Blues', which seems to come from an earlier era.

In this way, Cliff imprints his own temple on his songs, which fans of Ella should definitely listen to.