Cassandra Wilson – vocals, acoustic guitar [click here to see more vinyl featuring Cassandra Wilson] Terri Lyne Carrington – drums Jeff Haynes – percussion Calvin X Jones – bass Gregoire Maret – harmonica Herlin Riley – drums, washboard Brandon Ross – banjo, guitar Fabrizio Sotti – guitar Reginald Veal – bass 2 LPs, Gatefold jacket Original analog Master tape : YES Heavy Press : 180g Record color : black Speed : 33RPM Size : 12” Stereo Studio Record Press : RTI Label : Blue Note Tone Poet Original Label : Blue Note Recorded December 2002 – March 2003 at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey Engineered by Rudy Van Gelder Produced by Joe Harley Remastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio Originally released in 2003 Reissued in 2019 Tracks : Side A: Fragile Sleight of Time I Want More Side B: If Loving You Is Wrong Lay Lady lay Crazy What Is It? Side C: Heaven Knows Honey Bee Broken Drum Side D: On This Train Throw It Away Allow Me Once In A Blue Moon Reviews : “Cassandra Wilson has garnered a deserving reputation for her soulful, visionary reads of songs by legendary composers old and new, from Robert Johnson to Van Morrison. On Glamoured, Wilson composed half the album, and her songs are as provocative and deserve the same weight of grace critically afforded her covers. She uses her trademark fluid, smoky delivery to redefine songs such as the old soul nugget "If Loving You Is Wrong"; the poignancy it was written with tells of a woman lost in the delirium of a forbidden love with a married man. The ache and euphoria in her voice shot through with producer Fabrizio Sotti's stunning acoustic guitar interplay is nearly overwhelming in its emotion. Her Afro-Caribbean read of Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" is a different -- and perhaps better -- version than the original. It doesn't weep and it doesn't get bogged down in its melody; it is shot through with a smoldering drone and eclectic polyrhythms that reinvent it harmonically. Willie Nelson's "Crazy" is kissed with the same elegance and soul that her version of "Tupelo Honey" was. But it is on Muddy Waters' "Honey Bee" and Abbey Lincoln's "Throw It Away," which closes the album, that Wilson offers her greatest gift: that of an improvisational blues and jazz singer who understands these songs to be living embodiments of still developing traditions. Recorded in Jackson, MS, her hometown, these songs are shot through with mischief; a controlled, winking sensuality; greasy, rollicking, and syncopated rhythms; and melody lines to kill for. Wilson's songs, particularly "I Want More" and "What Is It?" with their funky backbeats and jagged verses, are seemingly new forms for the pop song, while "Broken Drum," "Sleight of Time," and "Heaven Knows" could have been written for Nina Simone, such are their out-of-the-ages, folk-infused jazzy cadences, but Wilson makes them unclassifiable in terms of any time but the present and she is working out new forms for color, phrasing, and rhythmic interplay for her voice. Glamoured, like its Gaelic definition, is the sound of the supernatural in a human being.” AllMusic Review by Thom Jurek "If there is any royalty among jazz vocalists, Wilson is a senior member of that court. With a unique vocal timbre, husky voice and percussive delivery shaped by her influences -- Abbey Lincoln and Betty Carter -- she isn't easily confused with any other jazz artist. No one is as uncompromising, so full of edgy passion while at the same time so intelligent in her choice and arrangement of material... A 2003 Blue Note release, Glamoured is half covers and half Wilson compositions. A small band -- guitar, bass, percussion and in some cases banjo, harmonica and washboard -- accompanies Wilson, who often challenges listeners with more experimentation than they can follow. Not here -- her original compositions are mature and unselfconscious, standing toe to toe with her choice of covers, which are stamped with her unique signature. The resulting performances are edgy but never over the edge, resulting in one of Wilson's best Blue Note albums. Whether it's Percy Sledge's 'If Loving You Is Wrong' or Dylan's 'Lay Lady Lay,' Wilson's interpretations avoid the hackneyed result mailed in by most singers with audiophile cred. This recording was originally released on CD and LP. Mastered at Sterling Sound, the original vinyl was pressed somewhere in the EU (common for LP issues around the turn of the century). It sported regular-weight vinyl and a lightweight jacket, and while it sounded better than the CD, the sound was as light as the packaging. This Tone Poet release, mastered by Kevin Gray and pressed at RTI, is a revelation. The original LP lacked texture, sounding thin and washed out by comparison to the meaty sound of this reissue." - Dennis Davis, The Audio Beat, July 2019 Ratings: AllMusic 4/5 , Discogs 4.26 / 5 , The Audio Beat : Music 4.5/5, Sound 4.5/5
Related
Related
Related
Related