Dianne Reeves - Good Night, and Good Luck

[GA Russell]

As I said in the "What are you getting for Christmas?" thread...

In my mail today were two CDs I have read good things about. What pushed me to get them were the recent Grammy nominations.

Nnenna Freelon - Blueprint of a Lady

Dianne Reeves - Good Night, and Good Luck

I'm going to wait till Christmas to open them up. I'll probably listen to them on the drive home from my sister's.

If they're as good as I expect them to be, I'll start a thread on them, and maybe we can have a discussion.

Nnenna Freelon - Blueprint of a Lady

A few years ago when I lived in the Atlanta area, I had the opportunity to chat briefly with a fellow generally regarded as that area's best jazz pianist, Gary Motley. I remember him telling me that he enjoyed Nnenna Freelon's singing. This is my first Freelon album, and because of his recommendation I had a very positive attitude about hearing this tribute to Billie Holiday.

The album is made up of standards once sung by Holiday. The songs are beauties like I Didn't Know What Time It Was, Don't Explain, God Bless the Child, Them There Eyes, You've Changed, Lover Man and All of Me, among others.

I don't think it's fair to an artist to criticize an album when you disagree with the premise. Freelon has a good voice, but I disagree with what she is doing here. She never sings a song straight. Many of the songs she "interprets" the melody beyond recognition, and the remainder she messes with the rhythm. In the case of Willow Weep for Me, she changes both the melody and the rhythm, leaving only the lyrics to lead you to believe that you have ever heard the song before.

Obviously somebody thought this was a good idea, because the album has been nominated for a Grammy. If this is your cup of tea, go for it! I can't recommend this one.

Dianne Reeves - Good Night and Good Luck

Good Night and Good Luck is a different story. The purpose is to invoke the ambience of small smoky clubs of the fifties, and Dianne Reeves and the band do it well. The band is a piano trio, plus Matt Catingub occasionally adding phrases on tenor sax.

Six of the songs are from the movie. The other nine were recorded for the album.

Reeves sings every song straight, and nearly all of them romantically. I believe that all songs but one are standards. This would make an excellent Valentine's Day present.

I suppose that typically one's opinion of a vocal album depends mostly on whether one likes the singer's voice. I'm not the biggest fan of Reeves' voice, but I like the album more than I like her voice. I can recommend this one.

Edit: I should add, for those who have forgotten, that both of these albums received Grammy nominations for Best Jazz Vocal.

Edited January 7, 2006 by GA Russell

[ghost of miles]

GOOD NIGHT & GOOD LUCK ended up winning for best jazz vocal album. Good, late-night, torchy stuff... one of my favorite Reeves CDs to date.

[RonF]

GOOD NIGHT & GOOD LUCK ended up winning for best jazz vocal album. Good, late-night, torchy stuff... one of my favorite Reeves CDs to date.

Oh yeah!

[Guest]

Very nice rhythm section. I don't remember who the tenor is, but I remember thinking that they had him playing to the period. Very Ben Websteresque. I'd be interested to know if he really plays that way or if he did it for the session to fit the time.

Nice record overall. Good to see that some people bought a decent jazz record this year. Could have done without Straighten Up and Fly Right to open it, but...

[Chuck Nessa]

Something else to solidify jazz as "past tense".

[RonF]

Very nice rhythm section. I don't remember who the tenor is, but I remember thinking that they had him playing to the period. Very Ben Websteresque. I'd be interested to know if he really plays that way or if he did it for the session to fit the time.

Nice record overall. Good to see that some people bought a decent jazz record this year. Could have done without Straighten Up and Fly Right to open it, but...

I know, different strokes, Troy, but...........that track is killer!

[ghost of miles]

Something else to solidify jazz as "past tense".

I know what you mean, Chuck, but I'm willing to give it a pass in that sense, since the movie was set in the 1950s.

[Kalo]

It did really sound good in the context of the movie.

Though it also seemed odd that this one band was always broadcasting throughout the course of the film. Was there ever a jazz vocalist who had a daily TV gig?

[GA Russell]

Was there ever a jazz vocalist who had a daily TV gig?

Nat Cole had a daily weekday morning show. I remember my mom never missed it.

[Kalo]

As I was typing that previous post, I honestly thought to myself "with the possible exception of Nat Cole."

[ghost of miles]

It did really sound good in the context of the movie.

Though it also seemed odd that this one band was always broadcasting throughout the course of the film. Was there ever a jazz vocalist who had a daily TV gig?

Not sure about that--but doesn't Reeves play a CBS contract singer?

[Guest]

Something else to solidify jazz as "past tense".

I know what you mean, Chuck, but I'm willing to give it a pass in that sense, since the movie was set in the 1950s.

Yeah, I'm not saying that I wish everyone still sounded like Ben Webster, but just that I thought they did a good job of matching what they were playing to period. And, for the record, I do like Ben Webster in small doses. I also like Clifford Brown, John Coltrane, Mingus, McCoy Tyner, Teddy Charles, Ingrid Jensen...

[AllenLowe]

the reason she sounds so good on Good Night and Good luck is that the filmmakers leaned on her to tame the kind of embellishments that have ruined a lot of contemporary jazz singing - annoying cliched melisma, bad scat - this was what George Clooney told Terry Gross and it worked, though of course Reeves will probably go back to her bad habits -