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| Loverly | 
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| List Price: $18.98
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 15 reviews)
Sales Rank: 292
Category: Music
Artist: Cassandra Wilson
Publisher: Blue Note Records
Studio: Blue Note Records
Manufacturer: Blue Note Records
Label: Blue Note Records
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
EAN: 5099950769926
ASIN: B0016NCTH2
Release Date: June 10, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Lover Come Back To Me | | • | Black Orpheus | | • | Wouldn't It Be Loverly | | • | Gone With the Wind | | • | Caravan | | • | 'til There Was You | | • | Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most | | • | Arere | | • | St. James Infirmary | | • | Dust My Broom | | • | The Very Thought of You | | • | A Sleepin' Bee |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
Long considered one of the finest singers in the jazz world, Cassandra Wilson's new album is a tour de force of emotion, technique, interpretation and style as she brings her considerable powers to this collection of classic songs. Once again she has gathered a band of shining talent, featuring the brilliant Jason Moran on Piano with guitarist Marvin Sewell and Lonnie Plaxico on bass - a band that is so good together that Cassandra was happy to sit in the producer's chair and let the songs speak for themselves. Featuring incredible interpretations of the classics like Black Orpheus, Caravan, and The Very Thought of You, Cassandra is one of the few singers that can genuinely re-invent a song that we all think we know, such as Wouldn't It Be Loverly and turn it breathe new emotional life into it. However, the standout track has to be the stunning funky, soulful, brooding St. James Infirmary which has become a staple of her live set
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
Many fine moments, some funky grooves. August 13, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Cassandra's smoky alto remains one of the most beguiling voices in jazz and blues.
After it was wreathed in a high-tech production by the producer T. Bone Burnett on Thunderbird, she goes back to acoustic basics of traditional jazz vocals here, with a set almost entirely comprised of vintage tunes recorded with a small combo featuring the brilliant pianist du jour, Jason Moran and the guitar of Marvin Sewell.
"Loverly" was produced in a rented house in her Mississippi hometown, with assembled invited musician friends who got down to the business of recording then and there, making this recording so relaxed and personal that it feels like a live set in your own living room.
It's impressive to hear the class and character Cassandra has injected into these 20th century songs.
With the help of Yoruba percussionist Lekan Babalola she knits West African rhythms into stripped-down arrangements, featuring Lonnie Plaxico (bass), Jason Moran (piano) and Herlin Riley (drums).
The decisive player, however, is Nigerian percussionist Lekan Babalola, whose polyrhythmic flurries perk up Duke Ellington's "Caravan" and a version of "Gone With the Wind" whose elegant unison guitar and piano recalls Steely Dan.
He's at the heart of "Arere", inspired by the Yoruban god of willpower, on which Cassandra could be singing in a native dialect, or scatting.
"Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" is a true eye-opener. Cassandra's voice is so deep and resonant it's tangible, and she tells her story of loneliness backed only by Marvin Sewell's silvery acoustic guitar. He reappears playing ethereal slide guitar on "Black Orpheus", supported by Cuban-sounding percussion and piano, under Cassandra's whispered, desolate vocals.
"The Very Thought of You", a sublime duet with guest bassist Reginald Veal, features a rhythmic solo and sinuous vocals.
It is the up-tempo tracks that succeed in turning sparks to flame here. A traddish version of "Lover Come Back To Me" smears Cassandra's mellifluous vocals across Jason Moran's wild piano playing and "Arere", the only original on the album, is a frenetic fusion of unstoppable, cascading rhythms. On "Caravan" too, hectic percussion tumbles over jumbled piano and guitar, with Cassandra's voice at the other side of the room one moment and eerily close the next.
For many, it's Wilson's blues singing that stands out and she invests warhorses such as "St James Infirmary" and "Dust My Broom with a funky vitality.
All in all, not quite a classic, but many fine moments.
Highlights: "Caravan", "St James Infirmary", "Gone With the Wind", and "Arere".
 "Lots of Choc'lates For Me To Eat . . . Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" August 9, 2008
Listening to this latest album of Cassandra Wilson is such a novelty for me since this is my first taste of her one-of-a-kind vocal artistry. I have enjoyed the whole CD after listening with repeated plays and as a result of my delightful listening adventure, I have added another one of hers, Rendezvous to my ever-growing collection. And I'm looking forward as well to owning some of her most remarkable recordings.
With this CD, Cassandra Wilson has totally impressed me with her unique vocal art and flair. Ms. Wilson and her bandmates did a great job with the remarkable renditions with new twists on all twelve tracks making it a truly notable album that is worthy to be in every music lover's collection. She called their group the "magnificent seven musicians"-- Lonnie Plaxico and Reginald Veal (bass), Lekan Babalola (percussion), Marvin Sewell (guitar), Herlin Riley (drums), Jason Moran (piano) and the "Woman on the mirror."
My ears' favorites include the following:
1. An attractive, enchanting and tender interpretation of "Black Orpheus" making it the best vocal version ever recorded.
2. The most stirring and eloquently rendered "The Very Thought of You" that its composer Ray Noble would surely be proud of. The lone accompaniment is courtesy of Reginald Veal's acoustic upright bass.
3. A stylishly wonderful delivery of a jewel of a song, Meredith Wilson's "Till There Was You," from the Broadway musical "The Music Man."
4. One of the strongest tracks is "Caravan" wherein her bandmates put a lot of fresh and ingenious styles without deviating from the true essence of the song. The rhythm is vivacious and very engaging.
5. "Gone With The Wind" - I simply love how they created a beyond brilliant arrangement on this one.
6. Last but not least, "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" from one of my favorite musicals, Lerner and Loewe's "My Fair Lady" - it is such a delight to listen to her singing this song with a new flavor especially the sweet and unaffected line..."lots of choc'lates for me to eat." (make it See's please).
Wholeheartedly recommended. You'll enjoy it as much as I do.
 not as good July 28, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I like Wilson. This CD was not as exciting as suggested by a review I read (in the New Yorker ??). She seems to lack energy. Too much of it was the same.
The Critics Choice; Here May Be Why July 26, 2008
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
In the August, 2008 issue of "Down Beat," the universe of jazz critics have weighed in. The #1 jazz singer in the world, and by a pretty good margin, is Cassandra Wilson. Though I'm not the world's biggest Cassandra Wilson fan, and though Cassandra Wilson is not my favorite singer, I understand and respect the critical consensus, and I write to give my theory, based on the evidence of "Loverly," on why this is so.
Ever since the seminal "Blue Light "til Dawn" of 1993 (still my favorite Cassandra recording, BTW), Ms. Wilson is the singer who will not be pigeonholed. I gave her last recording, "Thunderbird," 5 stars on the basis of its sheer ingenuity. But I noted that it was questionable to call her a jazz singer; that c.d. was so close to alt rock that it tended to put her in the "uncategorizable" category.
So, what she has done here is to go back to standards. Well, sort of. A c.d. with Robert Johnson's "Dust My Broom," and the Yoruban (!) praise song to "Ogun," "Akere" (hey: she never claimed this to be a c.d. of American standards!), can't really be called "standard."
Instead, she starts up where she left off on "Thunderbird," with a unique blend of Afro-centricism, blues, and jazz (Yes, she sings jazz; check out her duet here with Lonnie Plaxico on "The Very Thought of You"). We have the most African version of "Caravan" ever, with a terrific piano solo from Jason Moran. We have blues licks a plenty on "Til There Was You" from "The Music Man." We have riffing around open guitar chords from Marvin Sewell on "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most."
Through it all, Cassandra Wilson knocks off her parts as if it's the easiest thing in the world. Listen to her offhanded version of "Lover Come Back to Me." She sounds like she's playing with the lover who will in time come back to her out of sheer curiosity.
Why is Cassandra #1? This is the most original set of standards since, since...I'd have to say, since "Rendezvous," which was sung by .... Cassandra Wilson with Jacky Terrasson on piano). And it's her first set of standards in 11 years. What other musician comes to mind who may not have been the most technically proficient of all on his instrument, but who kept pushing the edge of the envelope, creating new sound and new directions, to where he was adored and reviled at the same time by seemingly knowledgeable people- and did it as though it were the easiest thing in the world to do?
You got it. Cassandra Wilson is the modern day vocal counterpart to Miles Davis. That's why she's #1 in the critics eyes. No wonder she did a tribute c.d. to Miles ("Traveling Miles") during those 11 years. The shoe fits. RC
Loverly CD by Cassandra Wilson July 17, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful CD by Cassandra Wilson that illuminates her talents and provides wonderful music to enjoy.
Such a treat!
Nicely done, the vocal and musical arrangements, the selections, and the soul of the artist provide an environment of listening pleasure.
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