Burnished and romantic, vocalist Freddy Cole's 2011 Highnote release Talk to Me features the master singer backed by his stellar working sextet featuring guitarist Randy Napoleon, pianist John Di Martino, bassist Elias Bailey, and drummer Curtis Boyd. Also featured here are the more than welcome talents of trumpeter Terell Stafford and saxophonist Harry Allen, who punctuate these arrangements with tasty, melodic, and swinging solos. Cole has long been lauded as the successor to the balladeer throne once held by such icons as Nat King Cole, Billy Eckstine, Joe Williams, and Johnny Hartman. In that sense, Talk to Me does nothing if not reinforce this notion. From his lead-off take on the lush and urbane "Mam'selle," to his inspired after-hours jazz reworking of not one but two Bill Withers songs in "Lovely Day" and the laid-back Latin number "Can We Pretend?," Cole is in superb form throughout. Elsewhere, he bests Johnny Mathis on his version of the poignant ballad "I Was Telling Her About You," and, as on the rest of the album, is the epitome of taste and bluesy romanticism on "Come Home."