It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Dee Dee Bridgewater chose
to record a tribute album to Billie Holiday. In quick succession
beginning in the mid-'90s Bridgewater cut tribute albums to Ella
Fitzgerald, Horace Silver, and Kurt Weill, and prior to that, in the
late '80s, she was nominated for an award for her one-woman star turn in
a European theater production of Lady Day, the Holiday story. That
Bridgewater would eventually turn to Holiday (whose given name of
Eleanora Fagan explains the title) for an album-length exploration was
almost a given -- it was just a question of when. It's one of her
grandest efforts, too. With arrangements by Edsel Gomez (who also
provides piano) and a stellar cast of participants including bassist
Christian McBride, saxophonist/flutist/bass clarinetist James Carter,
and drummer Lewis Nash, Bridgewater doesn't attempt to mimic Holiday's
mannerisms or inflections but, as one would expect of such a gifted
artist, to absorb and reframe Holiday -- this is pure Bridgewater, not
another performance of Lady Day. Gomez, for his part, quite often pulls
the arrangements squarely away from Holiday territory to reinvent these
classic songs for a modern audience. The opening "Lady Sings the Blues"
is both instantly recognizable yet freshly reconceived as something of
an uptempo blues packed with polyrhythmic punch. "All of Me," which
follows, is taken at near-breakneck speed, Bridgewater jumping ahead of
the beat, following Carter's thrilling soprano sax solo with a raging
scat that's more Ella than Billie. Not everything is meant to redefine,
though: "God Bless the Child" is mostly true to the original, though
Carter's soprano solo again brings the tune into the new century, and
"Lover Man," though livelier than Holiday's take, is offered in a
somewhat timeless and straightforward manner. As one might expect,
there's no way a singer with Bridgewater's commitment to jazz history
could release a Holiday tribute without tackling "Strange Fruit," the
controversial anti-lynching landmark that remains Holiday's most daring
moment, and it's saved for last here. It's an eerie, ominous
interpretation, Bridgewater's raw vocal up front and fraught with
emotion. Carter's brooding bass clarinet and McBride's bass lend a
foreboding quality to the take, Nash relies heavily on his cymbals to
dramatic effect, and Gomez's piano is subtle, allowing the nakedness of
Bridgewater's voice -- at times unaccompanied -- to retell this story
that can never be told enough. It's a stunning finale to one of the
finest Billie Holiday homages ever recorded. Jeff Tamarkin
Tracklist :
1 Lady Sings The Blues 3:30
Written-By – Billie Holiday, Herbie Nichols
2 All Of Me 2:58
Written-By – Gerald Marks, Seymour B. Simons
3 Good Morning Heartache 5:10
Written-By – Dan Fisher, Ervin M. DRake, Irene Higginbotham
4 Lover Man 4:43
Written-By – James Edward Davis, James Sherman, Roger J. Ramirez
5 You've Changed 5:10
Written-By – William "Bill" Carey, Carl Fischer
6 Miss Brown To You 2:12
Written-By – Leo Robin, Ralph Rainger, Richard A. Whiting
7 Don't Explain 6:14
Written-By – Arthur Herzog Jr., Billie Holiday
8 Fine And Mellow 4:54
Written-By – Billie Holiday
9 Mother's Son-In-Law 2:46
Written-By – Alberta Nichols, Mann Holiner
10 God Bless The Child 5:13
Written-By – Arthur Herzog Jr., Billie Holiday
11 Foggy Day 4:33
Written-By – George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
12 Strange Fruit 4:16
Written-By – Lewis Allan
Credits :
Bass – Christian McBride
Bass Clarinet – James Carter (pistas: 3, 12)
Drums – Lewis Nash
Flute [Alto] – James Carter (pistas: 7)
Arranged By, Piano – Edsel Gomez
Soprano Saxophone – James Carter (pistas: 2, 4, 10)
Tenor Saxophone – James Carter (pistas: 1, 5, 6, 8, 9)
Vocals – Dee Dee Bridgewater
