Holly (Universal Music)
Holly Cole
Released February 2018
Juno Award Nominee Vocal Jazz Album of the Year 2019
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/browse/MPREb_RWpKYIL38tf
Spotify:
About:
The new recording, simply titled “HOLLY”, is produced by Grammy Award winning producer Russ Titelman (Eric Clapton, Randy Newman, Ricki Lee Jones), and arranged by pianist extraordinaire Larry Goldings. Most of the record was recorded at Sear Sound in NYC using an exemplary cast of both NYC and Toronto musicians including Aaron Davis (Piano), Davide DiRenzo (Drums), David Piltch (Bass), John Johnson (Woodwinds) Larry Goldings- (Hammond B3 Organ), Ben Street (Bass) and also Justin Faulkner (Drums). ‘Holly’ also includes two vocal duets with the incomparable Wycliffe Gordon. The recording comes complete with classics including “They Can’t Take That Away From Me”, “Everybody Loves Somebody” and “Teach Me Tonight” which showcase Holly’s dynamic artistry while bringing currency to these timeless tracks. See the full track listing below. Holly Cole has never been afraid to do or say exactly what she thinks or feels. Not in a standingon-a-soap-box grand gesture kind of way, but just by doing it! It’s the Maritimer in her; that attitude of wanting to cut through the noise and get to the point. It’s reflected in her minimalist approach to musical arrangements and often in the material she chooses. As an example, she recognized that simply by nature of being a woman, singing Mose Allison’s “Your Mind is on Vacation” brings significant additional currency to Allison’s poignant lyrics for both men and women – especially in 2017. On creating the album, Holly recounts, “When I made this record I didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was that I was excited; excited to work with producer Russ Titelman, excited to work at Sear Sound Studio in New York, a wonderful studio I had recorded songs from my “Temptation” recording in and excited to record with a whole new band that Russ Titelman had assembled.”
Track Listing:
1. I’m Beginning to See the Light (Duke Ellington / Don George / Johnny Hodges / Harry James) 03:00
2. Your Mind Is on Vacation (Mose Allison) 03:14
3. I Was Doing All Right (George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin) 02:55
4. It Could Happen to You (James Van Heusen) 03:39
5. Ain’t That a Kick in the Head (Sammy Cahn / James Van Heusen) 03:13
6. Teach Me Tonight (Gene DePaul) 04:17
7. We’ve Got a World That Swings (Louis Yule Brown / Lil Mattis) 02:46
8. They Can’t Take That Away From Me (George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin) 03:40
9. Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime (Kermit Lane) 04:21
10. I Could Write a Book (Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers) 03:20
11. Lazy Afternoon (John Latouche / Jerome Moross) 05:02
Personnel:
Holly Cole: vocals
Larry Goldings: piano (1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10) and Hammond B3 organ (6, 11)
Aaron Davis: piano (2, 5, 9) and Fender Rhodes (2)
Wycliffe Gordon: trombone (1, 3, 10) and vocals (3, 10)
Scott Robinson: tenor saxophone (3, 7, 8) and cornet (7)
John Johnson: flute (5)
Ed Cherry: guitar (1, 3, 7, 8, 10, 11)
Ben Street: bass (1, 3, 6 – 8, 10)
David Piltch: bass (2, 5, 9)
Justin Faulkner: drums (1, 3, 6 – 8, 10, 11)
Davide DiRenzo: drums (2, 5)
Producer: Greg Cohen, Holly Cole
Engineer: George Seara, Andy Taub, Dylan Heming
Assistant Engineer: Greg Kolchinsky, Taylor Dow, Yohei Goto
Mixed by George Seara
Mastered by Chris Athens,
Photography: Andrew MacNaughtan
Art Direction: Garnet Armstrong
Design: Linda Philp
Review:
While we never really needed another Holly Cole disc to establish her supremacy over vocal music – any vocal music, but let’s say music in the Jazz style, for now – but we will always welcome another disc if only to be mesmerized by her smoky and sometimes gravelly, and always alluring way with words. So here’s Holly; just that disc to remind us that where once there was only the fire and brimstone of youth, now much of that has been melted in with the well-honed values of wisdom and experience. And that’s just another way of reiterating that while nothing has been lost after thirty years of paying her dues, much has been added to her iridescent vocalastics.
Holly comes five years after Miss Cole last graced the studio and in her re-entry into that haloed space couldn’t have been more auspicious. First there is Russ Titelman in the Producer’s Chair, but more importantly Miss Cole is in absolutely top form. The album features beautifully crafted arrangements of mesmeric variety and sensuousness, and each is sung gloriously, with spacy allure, in every lovingly caressed phrase – including two songs: “I Was Doing All Right” and “If I Could Write a Book” with the prodigiously gifted Wycliffe Gordon. Mr. Gordon phrases like Pops reborn and leans into Miss Cole the way The Great One leaned into Ella, and Babs… which is something that Miss Cole clearly cherishes as she shines brightly.
But Miss Cole oozes quality on every chart. Her chosen material judiciously focuses on a mixture of standards and some lesser-known gems including one from Mose Allison: “Your Mind is on Vacation” – listen to how she seductively bends notes here melding them in with Aaron Davis’ radiant Fender Rhodes. Then there is “It Could Happen to You”, a beautiful duet feature with Larry Goldings, who appears again on Hammond B3 as Miss Cole inventively sculpts the long and languid inventions of “Lazy Afternoon”. Meanwhile on “I Was Doing All Right”, “We’ve Got a World That Swings” and “”They Can’t Take That Away From Me” she is squares off with Scott Robinson – heard here in all his sumptuous glory on tenor saxophone and cornet. While John Johnson shines on “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head”…
This is a new Holly Cole in many respects, as the vocalist appears with several (relatively) new musicians, or at least musicians she does not perform with often – such Ben Street and Ed Cherry, Justin Faulkner – but there are familiar faces too. Aaron Davis, David Piltch and Davide DiRenzo also return again and as expected they are in tune with Miss Cole’s artistry and vision as ever. But it is Miss Cole who shines brightest as she displays the breadth and depth of her palette of rusts, greens and golds, and a timbre like expensive raw silk; insightful emotionality, supple facility and overall musicality. Make no mistake: Holly Cole is back and she has much to offer.
Raul da Gama (JazzdaGama)
