Cory Daye

With her light, airy vocals, Bronx-born Cory Daye helped to transform Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band into one of the most exciting bands of the late-'70s disco era. Creating some of the earliest disco recordings, Daye and Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band skillfully mixed big band, swing, jump blues, Broadway tunes, and Caribbean influences into their infectious dance music. Leaving the Savannah band to pursue a solo career, Daye found immediate success, she enlisted the songwriting and production of Sandy Linzer to replicate her former band's sound on her solo debut, Cory and Me. Linzer was a particularly appropriate match for Daye, since he had already worked with Odyssey on their r. Buzzard-inspired disco classic "Native New Yorker." Perhaps hoping for similar Top 40 success, Daye seems more commercially motivated on Cory and Me, but that accessibility works wonders on the two opening cuts, "Green Light" and "Pow Wow." On both songs, Daye uses her playfully expressive voice to transform the potentially hokey lyrics into irresistible verses. . Daye's charm and enthusiasm are contagious throughout, but the rest of the songs fail to match her energy level, and the scattered Dr. Buzzard touches often seem diluted by the album's mainstream ambitions. Nevertheless, most Dr. Buzzard followers will probably enjoy the familiarity of Cory and Me, and the album may also appeal to fans of late-'70s disco divas who are unfamiliar with Daye's considerable talents. Set back by the collapse of disco, Daye joined Kid Creole & the Coconuts in the early '80s, singing on their 1982 album, Tropical Gangsters, and appearing as a guest vocalist on their 1995 album, To Travel Sideways. Resuming her solo career, Daye recorded a pair of 12" singles, "City Nights" b/w "Manhattan Cafes" in 1986 and "Middle of the Night in 1987.