[Dixielandjazz] Billie Holiday tribute reviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

Various Artists: A Tribute to Billie Holiday
by Elysa Gardner
USA Today, July 5, 2011
The first voice you hear on "A Tribute to Billie Holiday" is that of Angela Bassett,
reading excerpts from the 1956 autobiography "Lady Sings the Blues." At intervals
throughout, the actress recounts details of Lady Day's storied life with a righteous
elegance and a raw wit that do justice to her subject.
Sadly, those qualities are in short supply in most of these well-meaning interpretations
of songs associated with Holiday. Few performers plumb the emotional depths of the
material. Shelby Lynne sounds lovely but hardly heartbroken gliding through "You've
Changed" against a tasteful jazz arrangement. Similarly, Babyface's gently haunting
"Strange Fruit" summons a jilted lover's pain more than a lynching.
The breezier tunes tend to work best: Erin Boheme's coquettish "Them There Eyes,"
or "They Can't Take That Away from Me," on which Rickie Lee Jones' tangy, piquant
vocal evokes Holiday more than any other performance. Esperanza Spalding's "I'll
Look Around" is another highlight, blending regret, yearning and hope without a single
histrionic note. It's one of the few tracks that doesn't blur the line between understated
and underwhelming.
Download: "They Can't Take That Away from Me," "Them There Eyes," "I'll Look Around."
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by Thomas Conner
Chicago Sun-Times, July 1, 2011
Swedish actor Peter Stormare (he's the kidnapper who gets, shall we say, a leg up
at the end of "Fargo") is also a musician and a big fan of Billie Holiday. He's assembled
this mild but loving tribute to Lady Day for his record label, featuring her signature
tunes rendered with the kind of professionalism and regimented studio swing familiar
from projects like Donald Fagen's Rock and Soul Revue. Included are smooth cuts from
Shelby Lynne (an easygoing "You've Changed"), Grammy's latest best new artist Esperanza
Spalding (a breathy and eventually breezy take on "I'll Look Around"), Kenneth "Babyface"
Edmonds (a haunting but slightly syrupy "Strange Fruit"), Boz Scaggs (a restrained
"Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me"), Rickie Lee Jones (lively and typically childlike
on "They Can't Take That Away from Me") and others.


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
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