New Pop-Jazz Artist Who Is Going To Participate To Sanremo After A Long Live Experience. Her Sanremo Single Features A Guest Performance By Jazz Trumpetist Fabrizio Bosso. The Album Also Features The Participation Of Stefano Di Battista, Gio’ Di Tonno. The Album Also Contains Songs Intepreted In French And English...
For Sheryl Crow, the title of her seventh album isn’t just a location; it’s a state of mind. “I grew up in a small town 100 miles from Memphis, and that informed not only my musical taste, but how I look at life,” she says. “The drive to Memphis is all farmland, and everyone is community-oriented, God-fearing people, connected to the earth. The music that came out of that part of the world is a part of who I am, and it’s the biggest inspiration for what I do and why I do it.”...
For someone whose style changes as often as Cher’s does, her style always seems just as sincere and just as much Cher as the previous change. Her personality is set in stone and shines through — shines brighter than whatever she is dressed in or however many times she has her cheekbones drilled into. How many music artists, even if they lasted in the industry as long as Cher has, would sound just as recognizable on a 1999 synthetically vocalized song called &”Believe” as on her 1974 grimly comedic folk song &”Dark Lady”? She was more wholesome and organic in the early ’70s, but the music is entertaining and hip in its own way. Those who like Cher’s ’90s material will probably like Cher back then, even though the music is completely different. Released the year following Half Breed, Dark Lady is very similar, like an extension of that album, though more upbeat. &”Train of Thought” is raw and fast-moving rock (hence “train”) and gave her another American hit. &”Miss Subway of 1952″ is reminiscent of the acts Cher performed on Sonny and Cher, the kind of song Bette Midler likes to sneak into her albums: clever and fun, sort of breaks the mood and yet seems perfectly placed. &”Make the Man Love Me” is not as blatantly comedic, but its prayer to God, as if he was a genie with a deck of cards, comes close. &”Rescue Me” is a good cover choice; Cher may not have transformed the song the way she did &”Walking in Memphis,” but transformation did not used to be the point of covering songs. The point was hearing someone else’s voice and it is always fun to hear Cher’s renditions of the classics. The sweet and sentimental &”What’ll I Do” (theme song from The Great Gatsby) softens the mood, and then &”Apples Don’t Fall Far From the Tree” — written by Bob Stone, who penned &”Gypsys, Tramps, and Thieves” — brings the album to a very fine, very spirited finish. Peter Fawthrop, All Music Guide...
“Hooked!” showcases Woodward’s engaging, expressive vocals and witty, insightful songwriting on such memorable originals as “He Got Away,” “Purple Heart,” and “Slow Recovery.” Another highlight is “Another Woman,” especially written for Lucy by admirer Nellie McKay, who lends her harmony vocals to the track. Woodward’s gifts as an interpreter of outside material are showcased on her readings of such vintage tunes as the obscure Peggy Lee number “Sans Souci,” Hoagy Carmichael’s 1930s pop standard “Stardust” and “I Wan’na Be Like You (The Monkey Song),” originally sung by Louis Prima in Disney’s The Jungle Book....
The Netherlands’ leading pop female pop singer’s second outing on the Blue Note label is a tribute to the timeless songs of composer/arranger/singer Burt Bacharach. Oosterhuis rises to the challenge with stunning results, covering classics like “I Say A Little Prayer”, “Alfie”, “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again”, “House Is Not A Home”, “Close To You”, “The Look Of Love” and many more. ...
Award-winning British artist Estelle never got her just desserts for her 2004 debut album The 18th Day. Though the record was a critical success, it failed to make the mainstream splash many had hoped for. Her sophomore project, Shine, seems hell bent on avoiding the same fate. Backed up by a coterie of high profile US starlets–Wyclef Jean, will.i.am, Mark Ronson and Kanye West–Shine has surefire commercial success written all over it; though that’s not to say Estelle has sold out. Despite the high-impact American-style production, Shine remains reassuringly British. Estelle’s West London twang is as sharp as ever, and even Kanye drops rhymes about “WAGS” and “London Boys” (see single “American Boy”). ...
More than most tribute albums, singer Karrin Allyson’s remembrance of John Coltrane makes a genuine attempt to relate to its subject–not only in retracing his 1961 offering, Ballads, song by song and luxuriating in the deep, swelling tenor sounds of Bob Berg and James Carter, but also in giving the tunes plenty of room to breathe. Resisting the temptation to dress them up with overt displays of style, she approaches them in a straightforward, emotionally understated fashion, capturing their essence with taste and intelligence. ...
Nnenna Freelon, (b. July 28, 1954), is an American jazz singer, composer, producer, and arranger. She has been nominated for five Grammy Awards for her vocal work, and has performed and toured with such top artists as Ray Charles, Ellis Marsalis, Al Jarreau, Anita Baker, Aretha Franklin, Dianne Reeves, Diana Krall, Ramsey Lewis, George Benson, Clark Terry, Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard, just to name a few.
One critic described her as “a spell-binding professional, who rivets attention with her glorious, cultivated voice and canny stagecraft”. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl, Ellington Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Apollo Theater, Montreux Jazz Festival, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and more.”...
