Total playing time: 53:00

Original liner notes by Pete Rugolo:
The first time I heard Robert Hicks my wife and I were out with Henry and Ginny Mancini waiting for our dinner reservations to be announced. In the lounge was a lively quintet playing innovative jazz expressions on some of my personal favorites. Not jazz reincarnations, mind you, but standards with rollicking original style. Our conversation diminished and we were absorbed in listening to this exuberant presentation led by a young man in his early twenties. Two days later a friend called and insisted we go to an elegant room which had just started offering jazz and featured a wonderful group... someone I shouldn't miss. Of course it was the same room and we were delighted to again be in the company of those special sounds... pleased to be reminded that tunes we knew well could sound so fresh and new. I'd previously worked with two of the musicians, Chuck Flores and Morty Corb, so hellos and introductions were exchanged and we settled in for another evening of splendid listening.

Those nights had the spontaneity of good company and terrific music, and that same feeling is successfully captured here on this album. Inside the package, the vocalist, the musicians and the arrangements are so rightly interwoven that they immediately establish a momentum of acoustic layers that fit together and take the listener along, communicating in a way that promises us we'll be linked through the whole set.

"Let's Fall In Love" has a lilting sort of running free spirit... after a staccato intro, Robert sails through the first chorus with ease, followed by Doug Webb's buoyant flute and Al Viola's liquid guitar, bubbling up like spring water. "Don't Worry 'Bout Me" is given a very moving treatment by Robert, with a beautifully expressive trumpet solo by Graham Young. "Carambola" explodes onto the scene with the sheer exuberance of playful dolphins. And when we settle down along the "Navajo Trail", we're moved with a sophisticated stillness complimented by the lonesome wail of a poetic cowboy's harmonica (played by Ron Kalina). The generous serving of harmonica and guitar create a warm and homey atmosphere, suggesting images of the clear desert sky. Then, silky smooth, it drifts away the same way it softly wandered in...

The musicians selected for this project are among some of the finest on the West Coast. Mr. Hicks' arrangements are conscientiously designed in such a way as to allow each artist's personality a free form of expression. Each performer is ideally suited to the song in which he is featured, and everybody clearly shares the same enthusiasm and spirit for the choice of material.

Throughout the disc there are moments of whimsy and humor. At various times it's soothing, tasteful, raucous, rhythmic and fun... and there's something about the way Robert sings lyrics that really makes you think about what's being said... carefully phrased, straightforward and honest.

"New Standards" represents something we do whenever we add a new essence to something we like. In this album, that essence is a fresh style, some unexpected tempo changes and a bouncing vitality. While the important elements remain and give the music's foundation a timeless quality, there's a bracing splash that brings that timelessness head-on into the nineties... unfiltered interpretations that make the finished product entirely contemporary.

[PETE RUGOLO first came to prominence as chief arranger and composer for the Stan Kenton Orchestra, and thus helped pioneer the progressive jazz movement. He later became A&R director for Capitol Records and arranged for such artists as June Christy and Nat King Cole. His own orchestra enjoyed success on the Columbia and Mercury labels, and he has composed countless themes and scores for television and motion pictures.]