1. Lover Come Back To Me
2. Black Orpheus
3. Wouldn't It Be Loverly?
4. Gone With The Wind
5. Caravan
6. 'Til There Was You
7. Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
8. Arere
9. St. James Infirmary
10. Dust My Broom
11. The Very Thought of You
12. A Sleepin' Bee
Cassandra Wilson - Vocals
Marvin Sewell - Electric guitar, acoustic
guitar (tracks 1-10, 12)
Jason Moran - Piano (tracks 1-6, 8-10, 12)
Lonnie Plaxico - Bass (tracks 1-6, 8-10, 12)
Reginald Veal - Bass (track 11)
Herlin Riley - Drums (tracks 1-6, 8-10, 12)
Lekan Babalola - Percussion (tracks 1,2, 4-6,
8-10)
Rhonda Richmond - Background vocals (track
8)
Some singers play it safe
- sticking closely to the melody and avoiding
any daring feats. Other singers are braver
- even reckless - and many of these are the
real jazz singers, who genuinely improvise
as they go along. Betty Carter is probably
one of the best-known of this latter class
of vocalists, and so is Cassandra Wilson.
On this new album, Cassandra takes huge liberties
with songs: reshaping melodies, disregarding
barlines and venturing in all kinds of unexpected
directions. In the process she sometimes loses
the pitch but generally she is fairly precise
about singing in tune. Her delivery is gentle
and ingratiating, although she can be cavalier
about keeping to the right lyrics, changing
the title- track to "Wouldn't that
be loverly".
Cassandra's approach makes
for a fascinating album which is never predictable.
The songs are mostly jazz standards, except
for Arere, an original said to be inspired
by the Yoruban god of willpower and iron.
You can feel here the influence of Lekan Babalola,
a Nigerian percussionist who lives in London
and was recording with Cassandra for the first
time. She asked him "to find that West African
drumming pattern underpinning each of the
tunes that weren't straight-ahead or ballads".
So a song like 'Til There Was You receives
an unusual treatment, with prominent percussion.
This track is a good example of Cassandra
wandering off-pitch, which is not entirely
her own fault, as accompanists like pianist
Jason Moran adopt an oblique attitude which
could mislead any singer expecting to be lead
towards the expected note. Cassandra says
of Moran: "It always seems like he plays as
if he's falling off a cliff, but then brilliantly
ends up back in a place that makes perfect
sense". Again, this capricious atmosphere
keeps the listener alert, attentive to the
interplay between the musicians.
The other main accompanist
is guitarist Marvin Sewell, who provides all
the backing on Spring Can Really Hang You
Up the Most. His resonant playing fills
the background perfectly. On St James Infirmary,
his southern-style guitar adds to the eerie
mood.
Other highlights include
the not-quite-bossa rhythms of Gone With
the Wind; the Afro-blues mix of Dust
My Broom (with down-home guitar from Sewell,
evoking Cassandra's Mississippi birthplace);
and A Sleepin' Bee, which uses Wilson's
vocal depth to splendid effect (and she scats
with Betty-Carter-like freedom).
Loverly? Yes - this album
is lovely, not only because it is very agreeable
to hear but also because it constantly defies
expectations.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Blue Note 50999 5 21788 2 5
