"The voice is stunning, of course, and pianist Jacky Terrasson provides lovely accompaniment, but the hook for neophytes is the repertoire--"People Get Ready," "Heaven" by the Talking Heads, and Bob Dylan's "When He Returns" included." --Jeff Bateman
"If you have acquired a taste for Jimmy Scott's unusual, and brilliant, singing then this is an album you can't miss. I particularly appreciate this album for it's sincere and moving gospel material. It is an album that is both spiritual and musically sophisticated... I wish I could find more like this! The thing that catches your interest is the unusual mix of material: classic gospel tunes with material of a more recent vintage, (like a Bob Dylan tune). But the quality of the album I have ended up appreciating in the end is the sensitivity of Jacky Terrasson's arrangements and Jimmy Scott's singing. They make the material their own. They also introduced me to "All My Tears" by Julie Miller, one of the most wonderful gospel songs I've ever heard. That one track is worth the price of admission alone.
"An excellent album. Jacky Terrasson on piano presented the perfect foil to Mr. Scott's vocals. Something that you can listen to anytime of the day but especially when you're alone at home in the middle of the night. The spiritual theme might not be to everybody's liking but if you are a jazz fan, it is one album you certainly would like to have."
"Finally Jimmy Scott is getting recorded often, with musicians sensitive to his style and singing, and with the freedom to stretch out on ballads. Compare his version of Imagination recorded for Savoy back in the 50s and the one on this CD. The earlier recording was timed at less than 3 minutes while the song recorded this year took almost 7 minutes. (Some of that time is given to the instrumentalists for solos but Scott takes the song at a slower pace too.) The earlier version seemed too fast, especially for a singer like Jimmy Scott who is legendary for his phrasing, extending individual words, pronouncing every syllable and pausing for full effect. The two and three minute songs released in the 50s really do not do him justice simply because he was forced to sing faster than he normally would have sung in a nightclub date for instance. Although many of those songs are great too, I can always imagine what he would have done if free to sing as he wanted to sing. On this recording of Imagination I no longer have to imagine. The musicians on this album seem well suited to Scott's music. On three tracks he works with his own road band, the Jazz Expressions, while on most of the other tracks we hear Hank Crawford on alto sax, Cyrus Chestnut on piano, George Mraz on bass, and Grady Tate on drums. Gregoire Maret adds his Toots Thielemans-like harmonica effectively to Imagination, Without A Song, How Deep Is the Ocean?, and Blue Skies. Also Joe Beck's guitar, featured on There Will Never Be Another You and one of two renditions of the title cut Mood Indigo is particularly impressive. The guitar that he uses, called an alto guitar, is tuned a fifth lower than a usual guitar and has a haunting, full, almost ringing quality on the two ballads. Jimmy Scott's vocals make the songs doubly haunting, especially on Mood Indigo. The whole CD is extremely good but check out the 2 quite different versions of Mood Indigo, Time After Time with Scott and piano accompaniment alone, Without A Song,How Deep Is The Ocean?, Imagination, and There Will Never Be Another You. Overall this is an album to be compared with the singer's recent successes, All The Way, Dream and Holding Back The Years. As Lou Reed put it: "I hope he keeps singing until there isn't another song to sing."
Credits:
Jimmy Scott ( vocals ),Jacky Terrasson ( piano, arrange ), Joseph Bonadio ( percussin ), Hilliard Greene ( bass )
Produced by Craig Street
Notes:
Recorded by Danny Kopelson : at Sear Sound March & April, 1996
Tracklist:
01 Heaven
02 All My Tears
03 Wayfarin' Stranger
04 People Get Ready
05 He Looks Beyond My Faults
06 When He Returns
07 What Are They Doing In Heaven Today
08 Just As I Am
09 There's No Disappointment In Heaven
get it
10/25/10
heaven
"The voice is stunning, of course, and pianist Jacky Terrasson provides lovely accompaniment, but the hook for neophytes is the repertoire--"People Get Ready," "Heaven" by the Talking Heads, and Bob Dylan's "When He Returns" included." --Jeff Bateman
"If you have acquired a taste for Jimmy Scott's unusual, and brilliant, singing then this is an album you can't miss. I particularly appreciate this album for it's sincere and moving gospel material. It is an album that is both spiritual and musically sophisticated... I wish I could find more like this! The thing that catches your interest is the unusual mix of material: classic gospel tunes with material of a more recent vintage, (like a Bob Dylan tune). But the quality of the album I have ended up appreciating in the end is the sensitivity of Jacky Terrasson's arrangements and Jimmy Scott's singing. They make the material their own. They also introduced me to "All My Tears" by Julie Miller, one of the most wonderful gospel songs I've ever heard. That one track is worth the price of admission alone.
"An excellent album. Jacky Terrasson on piano presented the perfect foil to Mr. Scott's vocals. Something that you can listen to anytime of the day but especially when you're alone at home in the middle of the night. The spiritual theme might not be to everybody's liking but if you are a jazz fan, it is one album you certainly would like to have."
"Finally Jimmy Scott is getting recorded often, with musicians sensitive to his style and singing, and with the freedom to stretch out on ballads. Compare his version of Imagination recorded for Savoy back in the 50s and the one on this CD. The earlier recording was timed at less than 3 minutes while the song recorded this year took almost 7 minutes. (Some of that time is given to the instrumentalists for solos but Scott takes the song at a slower pace too.) The earlier version seemed too fast, especially for a singer like Jimmy Scott who is legendary for his phrasing, extending individual words, pronouncing every syllable and pausing for full effect. The two and three minute songs released in the 50s really do not do him justice simply because he was forced to sing faster than he normally would have sung in a nightclub date for instance. Although many of those songs are great too, I can always imagine what he would have done if free to sing as he wanted to sing. On this recording of Imagination I no longer have to imagine. The musicians on this album seem well suited to Scott's music. On three tracks he works with his own road band, the Jazz Expressions, while on most of the other tracks we hear Hank Crawford on alto sax, Cyrus Chestnut on piano, George Mraz on bass, and Grady Tate on drums. Gregoire Maret adds his Toots Thielemans-like harmonica effectively to Imagination, Without A Song, How Deep Is the Ocean?, and Blue Skies. Also Joe Beck's guitar, featured on There Will Never Be Another You and one of two renditions of the title cut Mood Indigo is particularly impressive. The guitar that he uses, called an alto guitar, is tuned a fifth lower than a usual guitar and has a haunting, full, almost ringing quality on the two ballads. Jimmy Scott's vocals make the songs doubly haunting, especially on Mood Indigo. The whole CD is extremely good but check out the 2 quite different versions of Mood Indigo, Time After Time with Scott and piano accompaniment alone, Without A Song,How Deep Is The Ocean?, Imagination, and There Will Never Be Another You. Overall this is an album to be compared with the singer's recent successes, All The Way, Dream and Holding Back The Years. As Lou Reed put it: "I hope he keeps singing until there isn't another song to sing."
Credits:
Jimmy Scott ( vocals ),Jacky Terrasson ( piano, arrange ), Joseph Bonadio ( percussin ), Hilliard Greene ( bass )
Produced by Craig Street
Notes:
Recorded by Danny Kopelson : at Sear Sound March & April, 1996
Tracklist:
01 Heaven
02 All My Tears
03 Wayfarin' Stranger
04 People Get Ready
05 He Looks Beyond My Faults
06 When He Returns
07 What Are They Doing In Heaven Today
08 Just As I Am
09 There's No Disappointment In Heaven
get it
