Editorial Product Review: : Norah Jones Photos (by Danny Clinch) More from Norah Jones Not Too Late Come Away With Me The Little Willies Amazon.com:Norah Jones blew everybody away with her jazzy, country-tinged, Grammy-winning debut CD, Come Away with Me. On this recording, Jones doesn't mess with her trademark formula. Under Arif Mardin's cozy coproduction, Jones is supported by her writing partners, her Handsome Band, and some special guests (country legend Dolly Parton, Levon Helm and Garth Hudson of the Band, ...
Editorial Product Review: essential recording:The voice of Edith Piaf carries with it perhaps more national identity than that of any other recorded artist in the world. Tiny, frail, and tragic in her life, Piaf brought French identity to the rest of the world in a way that was understandable to all. Known as 'the Little Sparrow' in her country, her voice was strong, bold, and passionate, even as she grew more infirm. The archetypical torch singer, she had massive popular success with songs like 'Milord,' 'Non, ...
Editorial Product Review: :A romantic's collection if ever there was one, this cachet of songs graced the equally heart-tugging film. King of the Croon and Swoon, Nat King Cole's 'Stardust' is probably the most obvious of the young lovers' themes here. Louis Armstrong and Jimmy Durante, ordinarily not the most romantic of sorts, prove themselves worthy contenders with 'A Kiss to Build a Dream On' and 'As Time Goes By,' respectively. 'In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning' gets an elegantly simple treatment from Carly Simon, ...
Editorial Product Review:Album Description:Official motion picture soundtrack to the film La Vie En Rose, the dramatic real-life story of French chanteuse Edith Piaf, starring Marion Cotillard and Gerard Depardieu. This release contains 27 tracks featuring 11 of Piaf's most popular songs remastered including 'La Vie En Rose', 'Hymne A L'amour' 'Milord' and 'Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien', plus the original score by Christopher Gunning. :As befits the soundtrack of a music biopic, most of the heavy lifting here is done by the movie's subject: iconic French ...
Editorial Product Review: :The movie version of Kander and Ebb's Chicago was long in the making, but it's well worth the wait. Director Rob Marshall's main change was to turn the classic musical numbers into fantasy sequences, but of course this isn't obvious on CD. Most importantly, the arrangements are bursting with life while being true to the show's spirit, and the casting is simply inspired. Catherine Zeta-Jones actually started her career on the British boards (she was in The Pajama Game and 42nd Street), so her ...
Editorial Product Review: : It's well known that the majority of musical-theater stars are women; save for a few exceptions (The Producers, for instance), most of the glory parts are written for them, and they're the ones who elicit fan worship. Brian Stokes Mitchell is among the rare male leads to attract the same kind of following. Few men have his easy-going charisma or his velvety pipes. Thanks to his long-overdue debut solo album (six years in the making), we now know he has even more skills ...
Editorial Product Review: essential recording:All for You is a tribute to the Nat 'King' Cole Trio of the 1940s, when Cole performed as both a singer and a pianist. Krall, like her heroes Lena Horne and Carmen McRae, is also a singer-pianist, and she plays both roles on most of the songs here. She's able to link her singing to her piano playing in sympathetic ways and projects tremendous feeling through both. Like Cole in the '40s, Krall plays with a drummerless trio--here with guitarist Russell ...
Editorial Product Review:Album Description:'After Nancy's death in 1995, many radio DJ's across the country kept her music alive by playing cuts from her CD's. But one DJ, Jonathan Schwartz, had access to a special private collection of unreleased recordings that Nancy had given him copies as gifts. Over the years, Jonathan would regularly play these recordings, and every time he did, we would get calls asking; 'Which CD is that on? How do I get a copy of the that song?'. Of course, there weren't on ...
Editorial Product Review:Album Description:'...a collection of timeless classics chosen and covered by the Queen herself' :Everyone grows up... even rappers. Pioneering female MC Queen Latifah shows a newfound level of maturity on The Dana Owens Album. A set of standards the rapper/actress decided to cover, the album features a host of jazz classics and R&B favorites. Latifah is at her seductive best when playing the sultry siren on Al Green's 'Simply Beautiful.' With a little help from Green himself, Latifah's vocals slide over the warm, organ-drenched ...
