Afterglow

Kendra Shank | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 19, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mapleshade Records
• ASIN: B00000FBSH
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #225,743 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So subtle and beautiful it should not be missed, January 3, 2004

By 

groucho "groucho_nc" (Chapel Hill, NC, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Afterglow (Audio CD)

Why do I gravitate towards impossibly slow music? Because Kendra Shank makes the experience lovelier. This debut album found Shank in a less cloudy voice (she was a bit like Betty Carter in her 2000 release) and her voice just hits you right away. There is a slight Janis Siegel-clarity to her phrasing, and she prefers the slow-burning songs that you can find in any Shirley Horn recording (small wonder that Shirley Horn endorsed this album wholeheartedly). Shank's voice is not like most contemporary female jazz singers carrying the neo-traditional torch, but she is a striking contrast to Diana Krall's smokiness, Cassandra Wilson's fogginess, Stacey Kent's reediness or Norah Jones's soporific honeyed tones. Shank has this voice that can be heard when everything is quiet around the house and her singing voice can be likened to a musical conversation -- as if she is speaking about laundry in that deliberate and caramel-minus-the-fluff voice. Best of all, she draws upon from the rarely-heard repertoire like the title track to Jobim's "Meditation". She may be too slow for others (but so is Norah Jones), but her deliberate slowness will not make you contemplate suicide the way Helen Merrill's later outputs can. Shank's albums are released in indie labels but once you get to see an album of hers, snatch up one. It will not make you forget others but it will make you love someone else.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excuse Me?, July 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Afterglow (Audio CD)

I was searching Amazon's Mapleshade catalog when I saw this CD ranked with two stars and clicked to find the review below. Talk about hyper-critical. I wonder if there is any music that stands up to such clinical analyis. I have owned this CD for a year and listen to it frequently. Comprised mostly of ballads, the pace is a little slow, but Ms. Shank's voice has a lovely tone and the backing trio of Larry Willis (piano), Steve Novosel (bass) and Steve Williams (drums) perform to their usual high standard. The recording, like nearly all Mapleshade productions is truly exceptional. I find myself tapping my toe on Paris Bossa, one of the few up-tempo numbers and feel Ms. Shank conveys emotion quite well on Almost Blue. My criteria: Does the music move me? Yes. Does it sound good? Yes, indeed. Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully romantic, February 14, 2004

By 

Rick Cornell "RC" (Reno, Nv USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Afterglow (Audio CD)

This was Ms. Shank's first album, but the last one of the three I've heard. It is nothing like "Wish" or "Reflections". Rather, it is a consistently romantic album, with lovely cuts such as "Almost Blue", "There's Never Been a Day" (with a sensitive addition of Gary Bartz' alto), "Tes Yeux Bemol", "Left Alone" and the title cut. Ms. Shank sounds like Miles Davis (of the Gil Evans era) throughout, and the feel of this album is like a firelit cabaret and cheek-to-cheek slow dancing (except for "Devil May Care", which seems oddly out of place here). She was not really to return to this style again, finding a different voice ultimately with a different quartet--but this is a wonderful voice nevertheless, and of her three albums, best displays her prowess on the acoustic guitar. I write this on Valentine's Day, and this album is recommended for this day!