Take Love Easy Review

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(More customer reviews)I hunch that Sophie Milman's voice won't be to everyone's taste. For those (like myself) who do respond to her idiosyncratic--but very sensual-- way with a song, this collection is a definite knock-out. Combining selections from the traditional jazz songbook (her rendition of "I Concentrate on You" is perfection) with more adventurous choices from the pop-rock songbook (Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen are all represented here), this is a lovely piece of work featuring Milman's voice against the backdrop of impeccably arranged and wonderfully played accompaniments. Enjoy!

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On "Take Love Easy" Sophie Milman takes another huge leap forward in a career that has been celebrated from Day One as one of the brightest stories in the vocal universe. This album reveals more nuances to Sophie's growing skills.In addition to a group of hand-picked standards delivered in her sassy and sultry style, Sophie stretches the boundaries of her repertoire by including more contenporary pop songs by the likes of Joni Mitchell (Be Cool), Paul Simon (50 Ways To Leave Your Lover), even Bruce Springsteen (I'm On Fire). But these tunes are hardly about "going pop".Sophie is all about moving the jazz vocal tradition forward in the most musically agreeable way possible.

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Anything Goes Review

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(More customer reviews)Five MARVELOUS Stars!!! Grammy-winners Herb Alpert and wife Lani Hall perform intimate, jazz-charged songs recorded live in front of enthusiastic club audiences across the nation. And this CD shows their artistry is still burning bright after 5 decades of musical excellence, indeed one performance is Grammy-nominated. The 60's was a period of musical consolidation and discovery, and highly visible in the mix was recording company executive Alpert as the driving trumpet force of the mixed-bag "Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass" group. And Lani Hall's fluid, hip, sweet voice was the driving vocal force of Sérgio Mendes' jazzy mixture of bossa nova, Beatles, Simon & Garfunkle, funky piano, and pop standards wrapped in a group he called "Brasil '66". Both of these groups were part of Alpert's stable of artists under his high-selling A&M recording company label. The spell of latin rhythms was key: the "Brass" had hits with "Tijuana Taxi" and the "Lonely Bull", while Mendes' mixed straight Brazilian popular music (MPB) like "Mas Que Nada", with Americanized versions ("For Me" was Mendes' English-version of the huge Brazilian-Portuguese hit "Arrastão" that made Elis Regina a star), and with Beatles' hits like "Fool On The Hill". Alpert even made a record-setting splash with disco/dance era chart-topper Rise, while Hall was making Spanish-only CDs (Lani Hall - Es Facil Amar won her a Grammy) and singing a Bond movie theme ("Never Say Never"). This CD centers around standards, originals, and MPB and has both surprises and revelations of their still-evolving musicality. Bill Cantos (piano, keyboards, and background vocals), Hussain Jiffry (electric bass) and Michael Shapiro (drums & percussion) offer exceptional support.
The 'best of the best' begins with "Fascinating Rhythm" featuring both a sassy Hall blending with Alpert on vocals and with Alpert stretching farther out in solo than expected on muted trumpet. Djavan's "Para-raio" (Lightning Rod) finds Hall wonderfully showing off her Portuguese vocal gymnastics, with Alpert ripping off a wonderful open bell trumpet solo. "The Trolley Song", "It's Only a Paper Moon" (using open and muted bells on a unique double-bell trumpet which allows immediate switching), the closer "Laura" (in a Tijuana Brass mode), and the Grammy-nominated "Besame Mucho" find Alpert on trumpet with the trio playing with fire and humor. An unusual "Old Black Magic" has Hall and muted Alpert shifting to a minor chord and mood that effectively recasts this old Tin Pan Alley classic. Perhaps best of all is Ivan Lins' classic "Dinorah"/Morning", where Hall finds new vocal nuances in a song that has been recorded by everyone from Elis Regina to George Benson. Alpert shows off excellent chops and ideas in his solo as does pianist Cantos. "Morning Coffee" by Cantos is a pure expression of what we have always known: Lani Hall is an exceptional jazz vocalist who has sung to us over the years, through many demanding solo and group contexts, in multiple languages. "Who Are You?" (Cantos, again!) has Hall singing beautifully, recalling the days of superb gems like "Slow Hot Wind" and "So Many Stars". "Anything Goes" is wrapped in Thelonious Monk's "Misterioso": an arrangement that works surprisingly very well. This CD, which has clear, immediate sound, shows that Ms Hall and Mr Alpert are vital performers and hopefully have other musical surprises in store for us in the future. Highly Recommended. Five JAZZY Stars!!
(Trivia: The combination of Alpert's #1 "This Guy's In Love With You" (vocal) in '68 and #1 "Rise" (instrumental) in '79 set a Billboard chart first for an artist going to #1 separately as a vocalist and instrumentalist. Lani Hall and Herb Alpert are the parents of actress Aria Alpert.
This review is based on an iTunes Plus download with digital booklet and IMDB.com information.)

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Iconic trumpeter and bandleader Herb Alpert and his wife, renowned singer Lani Hall, present original arrangements of classic American standards with the color of Brazilian music scattered throughout.

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Soundtrack Review

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(More customer reviews)I couldn't be happier with Linda Eder's latest release, Soundtrack. And a huge thank you to both Eder & her label, Verve, for giving the fans new albums two years in a row - way to deliver, Eder & team! As a film music album, Soundtrack is a throwback of sorts to the type of music that garnered Eder legions of fans - Broadway showstoppers and standards - but with a generally more understated, intimate feel to the set. Her first album for Verve, The Other Side of Me, was a departure from that previous norm. While I loved that release, it's decidedly more laid-back, country feel marked quite a change from releases like It's No Secret Anymore or By Myself. Soundtrack sees Eder interpreting 11 songs from a wide variety of films, ranging from the Henry Mancini-Johnny Mercer penned "Charade" (from the 1963 film of the same name) to "Falling Slowly" from the 2007 sleeper hit Once. From the well-known to the more obscure, Eder takes each song and puts her own unique spin on the lyric and arrangement. It would've been so easy for Eder to deliver power-ballad versions of classics like Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love" or Bryan Adams "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You." However, I'd argue that you'll be hard-pressed to find versions that are more elegant, understated, and emotive than Eder's take on these classics. The lyric is front and center, and Eder proves once again that she's a master at wringing ever drop of emotion, every nuance, from the words of a song. Another of my favorite tracks is the stunning version of "Falling Slowly" - the power in this arrangement and delivery gives one chills! While the Presley and Adams songs are perhaps not unexpected song choices, Eder also ventures into some surprising territory by putting her own unique spin on the BeeGee's "If I Can't Have You" and the Beatles' "Help," the latter a tribute to her son's love for their music. Prior to hearing the album, some of the song choices (like the Beatles' cover) had me wondering if Eder could successfully pull off her own version. I need not have doubted. The entire album has a cohesive, beautifully constructed feel to it, and Eder succeeds in making each song her own. Sountrack would be an excellent companion piece to Eder's 2003 musicals-themed album, Broadway, My Way. It's also a great set with which to introduce new fans to Eder's work, in how it successfully melds her ability to interpret classic song with the more laid-back, country-touched arrangements she's favored in recent years. This album is another winner from Ms. Eder, one I'll be enjoying for years to come.

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Linda returns to her Broadway roots on this release. The 12 tracks span roughly the last 50 years in cinema, from Mancini's "Charade," the title tune of the 1963 movie starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, to "Falling Slowly," the Academy Award winner from Once, the 2007 Irish musical film. The originals may be familiar and beloved, but Eder and her band dramatically reworked the arrangements, rendering the songs in an intimate, fireside style. Other highlights include an aching version of Yvonne Elliman's 1977 disco hit "If I Can't Have You," from Saturday Night Fever and a faithful rendition of "Valley of the Dolls," the theme of the 1968 flick that Dionne Warwick turned into a No. 2 pop hit.

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Your Songs Review

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(More customer reviews)There's a very interesting article from The Globe and Mail online that chronicles this, Harry Connick's first (and hopefully last) collaboration with mega-producer Clive Davis. Connick claims that the album was "the kind of...market-minded disc that [he] thought he'd never do, `not in a million years.'" Connick is quoted as saying that working with Davis at times left him "pissed" and "humiliated," and feeling "What am I doing, auditioning for this dude?" If there's proof positive that an artist of Connick's caliber should trust his own instincts, it's this seriously misguided collection of pop pablum.
The album starts with a fairly standard big-band arrangement of "All the Way," that clearly tells us we're in "When Harry Met Sally" territory. Which is fine, that's a place in which I'm more than happy to live. But what follows is dreadful: a cheesy version of Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are" that turns this simple, Grammy-winning classic into the theme from "Love, American Style." And other tacky renditions of tacky songs follow: A hokey, bluegrass version of Elton John's "Your Song;" Easy Listening takes on Beatles and Burt Bacharach tunes; a lackluster, rinky dink "Can't Help Falling in Love With You" that made me want to sway and hold up a lighter. Wynton Marsalis' trumpet solos only reinforce that's it all very Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.
I've always regarded Mr. Connick as an arbiter of good taste and classy jazz, neither of which he displays here. There are thousands of brilliant, moving standards out there, and instead we get...Don McLean's "And I Love Her So?" Really? Disheartening to say the least.
To be fair, not all the tracks misfire. The abum's last three, including "Who Can I Turn To?" (which I was expecting to go over the top) are actually restrained and heartfelt; and the Nelson Riddle type arrangement for "Besame Mucho" works quite well. That it's pretty much the same one employed for "The Way You Look Tonight" and "Some Enchanted Evening" speaks again to just how uninspired and cookie cutter this album feels and sounds.
I'm not sure how reproducing the Perry Como Songbook is keeping Mr. Connick relevant, but Clive Davis has a plan. He did, after all, bring Barry Manilow back from the dead, and got a Grammy for doing so. We can only hope he confines himself to producing, and doesn't introduce Connick to Mr. Manilow's plastic surgeon.

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2009 album from the singer, pianist and actor, an album of cover versions of songs requested by his many fans. Like his best-selling Only You of 2004, Your Songs consists of Connick singing familiar songs with a full Jazz big band and string orchestra, and, as with nearly all of Harry's previous albums, he wrote each of the orchestrations himself. He also recruited two of his lifelong friends from New Orleans, Branford and Wynton Marsalis, as well as bluegrass guitar virtuoso Bryan Sutton, for guest appearances. 14 tracks including 'Mona Lisa', 'Smile', 'Just The Way You Are' and more.

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Quiet Nights Review

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(More customer reviews)My record collection is blessed with great Brazilian jazz and bossa nova. From Stan Getz to Antonio Carlos Jobim's Wave to Eliane Elias. It's a tough genre to pull off - to give it that cool, breezy, laid-back, I-wish-I-had-another-Mojito kind of feeling. If done well, the listener is transported to a gorgeous beach with beautiful women and cool mist of ocean spray, spawned by the hip grooves of quiet sophistication. If done poorly, the listener is pushed headfirst into the nearest elevator. I'm still punching the numbers looking for a more exciting floor . . .uh . . . I mean tune. Krall no longer seems to revel in the music. Instead, I get a sense she fell in line behind Tony LiPuma and headed to the studio with a few chords and one-too-many string programs. We witnessed Miles Davis fall from Kind of Blue to struggling through Cindy Lauper tunes late in his career. Krall seems to be on a similar fall from greatness. Let us hope and pray she finds her mark again. This ain't it. Save your money and pick up Eliane Elias "Sings Jobim."

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Diana Krall's 12th album Quiet Nights is an intimate recording of ballads and bossa novas from the team that brought you her best-selling GRAMMY Award-winning CD The Look of Love.Accompanied by her quartet and orchestra, Diana turns her sensual vocals and consummate piano skills to "The Boy from Ipanema", "Walk on By"and other classic tunes.Quiet Nights is initially available as a limited edition CD including 2 bonus tracks - her stunning rendition of the Bee Gee's "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" and the standard "Every Time We Say Goodbye". Also available on LP pressed on 180 Gram Vinyl.

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