I Wanna Be Evil (With Love to Eartha Kitt) (Motéma Music)
René Marie
Released September 23, 2013
Grammy Nominee for Best Jazz Vocal Album 2015
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mDyMVQsUk9FBj1Cat-K6TbH74McyqvB58
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/69LWa0H8OE1JejVVqeNDuf?si=YmiEnNRZQ0KsD7uO_-tZ3A
About:
A brilliantly entertaining tribute to the musical spirit of the divine Eartha Kitt as performed by the equally divine René Marie. Includes Eartha’s hits “C’est Si Bon”, “Santa Baby”, and “I Wanna Be Evil”, plus other scintillating gems!
Track Listing:
1. I’d Rather Be Burned as a Witch (Gerald Dolin / Betty Garrett) 4:04
2. C’est Si Bon (Henri Betti / André Hornez / Jerry Seelen) 5:48
3. Oh, John (Fred Ebb / Philip Springer) 5:33
4. Let’s Do It (Cole Porter) 7:58
5. Peel Me a Grape (Dave Frishberg) 6:14
6. My Heart Belongs to Daddy (Cole Porter) 7:12
7. I Wanna Be Evil (Lester Judson / Ray Tyler) 4:42
8. Come on-a My House (Ross Bagdasarian / William Saroyan) 4:52
9. Santa Baby (Joan Javits / Philip Springer) 6:08
10. Weekend (René Marie) 7:31
Personnel:
René Marie: vocals
Wycliffe Gordon: trombone (1, 3, 4, 6, 7)
Adrian Cunningham: tenor saxophone (1, 7), clarinet (2, 3, 6), flute (1, 7)
Etienne Charles: trumpet (1, 3, 6, 7, 9), percussion (8)
Kevin Bales: piano
Elias Bailey: bass
Quentin Baxter: drums, percussion, washboard
Recorded March 10 – 19, 2013, at Varis Leichtman Studio, Jazz at Lincoln Center, NY
Produced by Mark Ruffin and René Marie
Recorded and Mixed by Rob Macomber
Mastered by Bebo Belinski
Photography by Joe Bogges
Art Direction: Jana Herzen, Joe Bogges, René Marie
Executive-Producer: Jana Herzen
Review:
Iconoclastic and often enigmatic singer Rene Marie was
plain when she once said that she never wished to record a tribute disc. After
four successful recordings with MAXJAZZ, including one (Vertigo (2001))
provocatively pairing “Dixie” with “Strange Fruit,” Marie
took a hard left to address in music some of her pressing artistic concerns.
This resulted in 2011’s Black Lace Freudian Slip (Motema) and her
loving ode to America, Voice of My Beautiful Country (Motema, 2011).
No, Marie had no intention of making a tribute disc and then, when she had
changed her mind, she chose the perfect subject…Eartha Kitt.
If Nina Simone is the earthy, organic, dissenting voice of jazz, then Kitt was
the hyper-sophisticated, cosmopolitan voice of the same. Singer, writer,
actress (yes, that was Kitt playing the Catwoman on the 1960s television
series Batman, and was she not perfect, melting the celluloid in the
bargain), activist (like Marie), Kitt spread a shadow long over American and
European entertainment. Where Simone has had countless recorded tributes,
Marie’s homage to Kitt is that artist’s first. Pure genius was the pairing of
Marie and Kitt: artist and subject, kindred spirits.
My father, while serving in the United States Army
during World War II had the opportunity to see Lena Horne perform. He said that
her performance was that of undistilled sex. Well, dad never listened to Kitt
nor heard Marie’s tribute to her, because I Wanna Be Evil: With Love to
Eartha Kitt is an unapologetic indulgence in sensual warmth and expression
of that most fecund of unions. Where Marie began developing sexual creativity
in song with her previous Black Lace Freudian Slip, she perfects here with
the most appropriate of material.
With a crack band behind her, Marie purrs her way through Cole Porter’s
“Let’s Do It” and “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” the latter
guaranteed to bring color to the most jaded cheeks. “Santa Baby” one
of Kitt’s biggest hits is a celebration of the carnal beneath the mistletoe.
Instrumentally, Wycliffe Gordon’s is perfectly conversational
while Etienne Charles’ muted trumpet is opium smoke in the late evening.
But in the end it is Marie who pulls off the best tribute disc of this or any
other year.
C. Michael Bailey (All About Jazz)
