This Is New

J'ai Deux Amours	Red Earth Dee Dee Bridgewater is first and foremost a groundbreaker, an artist whose projects have traversed the musical kaleidoscope from traditional vocal jazz to searing scat interpretations. Unafraid and uninhibited, these attributes make her one of the most versatile and inspiring art...	Dear Ella	Live at Yoshi's Dee Dee Bridgewater's Live at Yoshi's is more than just a glorious paean to the art of scat singing by one of its foremost practitioners. Impeccably recorded, Yoshi's is also that rare live recording that captures the excitement and spontaneity of a performance without sacrificin...	Prelude to a Kiss: The Duke Ellington Album
Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver	Loverly Cassandra Wilson's Loverly is something more than just her unique spin on songs from long ago. For this set, she has assembled an impressive core group of musicians to accompany her: Jason Moran on piano, Lonnie Plaxico on acoustic upright bass, and Marvin Sewell on guitar. Her l...	River: The Joni Letters (with Bonus Tracks) - Amazon.com Exclusive On paper, River sounds like a match made in several versions of heaven. Legendary pianist Herbie Hancock re-imagines Joni Mitchell with his hand-picked, star-studded band--including saxophonist Wayne Shorter--in tow. Luminary guests lend vocals to a song apiece: Norah Jones ("Cou...	Keeping Tradition	Good Night, And Good Luck Dianne Reeves's cool contralto, fronted by a quicksilver combo featuring saxophonist Matt Catingub and pianist Peter Martin, provides the flowing jazz soundtrack to George Clooney's 1950s, film detailing the epic struggle between the legendary TV newsman Edward R. Murrow and ...

In Great Vocals
Love the music, and the vocals. Not a real big fan, but this is one of her better CD's. It has a latin twist, with great vocals. I enjoy this CD from the start to finish.

Kurt Weill is dancing in his grave!
Dee Dee Bridgewater is one of the most creative vocalists of our time. I love all of her work (her Horace Silver tribute is a favorite) though, being a huge fan of Weill, I have to bump THIS IS NEW to the front of the line. Dee Dee really does something new here. As another reviewer states, she "messes" with Weill, with gorgeous, moving, thrilling results. If I had to pick a "low-point", it would be the charming "September Song", one of my all-time favorites (I own many beautiful interpretations). Again, Dee Dee's is truly original, and though not my favorite interpretation (that's the "low-point"), is nonetheless lovely. There is so much more to embrace here. And don't miss the hidden final track -- something like 8 minutes after the end of the listed final track -- a truly spontaneous Dee Dee cracking up on "Mack the Knife". Unfortunately, many artists (likely attempting to emulate Ella) have feigned "out-take" versions of "Mack" and other classics, but one can tell that Dee Dee is truly self-intoxicated on this track (and rightly so). I suppose some Weill "purists" may think this effort too light-hearted in spots, but who cares? Laughter in dark places is the very essence of humor -- especially Weill's humor.

Nobody has covered Weill better. This IS new!
Dee Dee Bridgewater has made the quintessential Kurt Weill cover album. From the glorious "Youkali" to the imaginative "My Ship" and "Lost In The Stars"...Bridgewater transcends the acts of merely covering a song, and actually inhabits every single one of these Weill masterpieces as if she were a different character in each. It's like watching an actor give a performance, even when you are just listening to the CD! I had the good fortune of seeing Miss Bridgewater perform live at the Kennedy Center in early 2004, and she performed some of the songs from this CD, and was gracious enough to autograph my copy after the show, and I will never forget her amazing delivery, her showwomanship, her humor and her stunning versatility. She is a gem, and this CD is just a small sample of what she has to offer. When she signed my CD, Miss Bridgewater mentioned that her next project would be a "Latin album", as she called it. Here's hoping she does to Bossa Nova, Brazilian Samba and the Tango what she did with Weill...make it NEW indeed!

This is amazing
This CD is one of the best things to happen to Kurt Weill's music since....well....he wrote them originally.Ms Bridgewater does something with these tunes that most people are far too scared to try - she messes with them...and with amazing results.Bilbao Song is perhaps the best example, in which she creates lush contrasts in latin styles...and makes amazing use of nylon-string guitars. However, she also delivers a heavenly performance of My Ship, as well.Occasionally, the arrangements dip dangerously into pop-jazz, but never for too long. Even when this happens, he incredible voice and delivery (theatre training pays off) combined with unbelievable soloists offsets any problems there.This is one of the best albums of the past year - a must buy. Also, don't hit stop after track 11 - there's a secret track of Mack the Knife that's well worth the listen!

Should Win Her Second Grammy
Weill songs require not just a singer but an actress and Dee Deecan do both. She gives new life to standards like "Speak Low"and "This is New". I love the flamenco guitar on "Bilbao Song" and the bandeleon on "Youkali". This is obviously a labor of lovebetween the singer and her musicians. "I'm A Stranger HereMyself" and "Alabama Song" show Dee Dee and the musicians attheir improvisational best. A winner all the way.