Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie with Love from Dee Dee

Dee Dee Bridgewater | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 2, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Emarcy / Pgd
• ASIN: B002YCGLAK
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,968 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

From the Artist

"This album is my way of paying my respect to a vocalist who made it possible for singers like me to carve out a career for ourselves," says Bridgewater, who performed the role of Holiday in the triumphant theatrical production, Lady Day--based on the singer's autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues--staged in Paris and London in 1986 and 1987. "I wanted Eleanora Fagan to be something different: more modern and a celebration, not a [recording] that goes dark and sullen and maudlin. I wanted the album to be joyful."

Product Description

Over the course of a multifaceted career that has spanned four decades, Dee Dee Bridgewater has risen to the top tier of today's jazz vocalists, putting her own unique spin on standards as well as taking intrepid leaps of faith in re-envisioning jazz classics. For her latest recording, Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee, Bridgewater honors an iconic jazz figure, Billie Holiday, who died tragically at the age of 44 a half-century ago. Ms. Bridgewater states that Eleanora Fagan goes far deeper than being a tribute album of retreaded Holiday tunes. "Billie deserves to have her music heard in another light," she says, "and I definitely didn't set out to imitate her." Key to the fresh approach is pianist Edsel Gomez, Bridgewater's longtime band mate who wrote new arrangements for the 12 songs on the album, including the African polyrhythmic-charged interpretation of "Lady Sings the Blues, " a reharmonized version of "All of Me" and the gospel-tinged "God Bless the Child." Says Bridgewater: "Edsel is an extremely gifted, talented arranger with very modern ideas. Edsel has the ability to be modern and work in a tasteful fashion." Gomez took on the daunting challenge of bringing new life to the music with enthusiasm. "I listened to everything Billie Holiday ever recorded," he says. "I let her music speak to me." He also kept in mind the personalities of the all-star band Bridgewater had assembled for the recording: dynamic reeds player James Carter, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Lewis Nash. "This was my dream band," says Bridgewater. "I got to work with these musicians who I'd been dying to play with. I thought, I can't miss. With this band I can have a hard-swinging, touching celebration of Billie's music."

Bridgewater sings into the nuances of such songs as "Good Morning Heartache," "Lover Man" and "Fine and Mellow" with an allure that's equal parts sexy, spunky and sublime. "This was the first time when I wasn't concerned about having a particular sound of voice," Bridgewater says. "I was just singing from my gut. It was all so swinging and so soulful." Other highlights include the haunting "You've Changed" with Carter blowing smoky soul to complement Bridgewater's moving vocals, the spunky "Mother's Son-in-Law" with McBride dueting with the coquettish singer, and the uptempo "Miss Brown to You" featuring Nash's drumming prowess. Over the course of her career, Bridgewater has paid homage to monumental figures of the music world, recording albums dedicated to Ella Fitzgerald (the Grammy Award-winning Dear Ella, 1997), Horace Silver (Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver, 1995) and Kurt Weill (This Is New, 2002). But with Eleanora Fagan--the follow-up to 2007's brilliant Red Earth: A Malian Journey that melded the music of Mali with jazz--Bridgewater delivers one of the most remarkable recording performances of her career. "Dee Dee is a spirited dynamo and a soulful balladeer," says liner note writer Dan Ouellette. "She sings with a razor-edged voice; she scats with abandon; she makes you cry. She even chokes up herself upon descending into the ghoulish drama of `Strange Fruit,' which serves as the album's poignant finale. She gives a moving read with a sparse arrangement supporting her." Instead of playing it safe and recreating her performance in Lady Day, on Eleanora Fagan, Bridgewater reacquaints herself with Holiday, shining a new ray of love on the often-misunderstood jazz icon. "I wanted the record to be a collection that would not be like the music of the show," she says. That philosophy is in keeping with Bridgewater's approach to all of her projects: "I want to move forward, just as I've done with each of my albums. To not go backwards, but progress. Constantly."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smokin' Hot!, March 16, 2010

By 

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

This review is from: Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie with Love from Dee Dee (Audio CD)

IMHO, 2005's "Jai Deux Amours" and 2007's "Red Earth" were two of the best vocal jazz recordings of the oughts. Although the two recordings were very different (a genuine French European feel and an undeniable Malian, third-world presence, respectively), both well established Dee Dee Bridgewater as a vocal jazz force, approaching living legend status. What could she possibly do for an encore?

What she has done is mine a field mined many, many times before - a tribute to Eleanora Fagan, aka Billie Holiday. That is a tricky thing to do. Any such recording invites comparisons to the best of such recordings and one of the best in history, Carmen McRae's "Sings Lover Man and Other Songs of Billie Holiday." To do a Billie tribute and receive 5 stars from me requires a recording that approaches Carmen's masterpiece.

Well, hush my mouth and call me stupid, but this recording in fact approaches Carmen's masterpiece.

And while my initial reaction is one of surprise, it makes a great deal of sense.

Probably the two most theatrical of all jazz singers were/are Carmen McRae and Dee Dee Bridgewater. To deliver material such as "Strange Fruit," "God Bless the Child," and "Lover Man" takes, first and foremost, a terrific actress who can not only get the words and the music, but can get the feel like Lady Day could. And Carmen and Dee Dee are those actresses/singers.

But the measure of a great jazz singer is how she interplays with the instrumentalists - indeed, how she inspires the instrumentalists. Here, Ms. Bridgewater sings with one of the most professional quartet of instrumentalists currently imaginable: Lewis Nash (drums), Christian McBride (bass), James Carter (saxes, flute and bass clarinet), and arranger Edsel Gomez (piano). And how she inspires these four is a wonderment to behold. It almost isn't fair.

Consider the chorus to "A Foggy Day." With Dee Dee's fractious scatting, Gomez knocks out a response to that call that sounds like 1 part Monk and 1 part Sonny Rollins. An inspired, economical solo, to be sure.

Or consider what Nash does on the break of "Miss Brown To You." His dancing on the drums reminds me of the best of Max Roach - and that's saying a lot, I know.

Or consider McBride's rich, fat comping on his duet with Ms. Bridgewater, "My Mother's Son-in-Law." McBride is blessed with a rich, fat sound; never has he put it to better use than here.

And then there's James Carter. If there is a recording out there where he sounds better than here, I'd sure like to know about it. Consider his wild response on soprano sax on the manic "All of Me," to Dee Dee's similar call. Or his growling, down-and-dirty tenor on "Fine and Mellow," or his heartbreaking bass clarinet on "Good Morning Heartache." Wow - just wow.

And the 5 musicians save the best for last - an outside version of "Strange Fruit" that distills the song to its bitter essence. Truly, I doubt there is a better performance of this classic than the one here. These musicians are smokin' hot, and this puts an exclamation point on the group's fiery performances.

I'm pretty bad at predicting Grammy's in the vocal jazz category. (I know what should be nominated, and I'm almost always wrong!) But that said, I would be shocked if this didn't get a nomination. It's the right artist with the right album at the right time, I think. RC

2/14/11 - This not only was nominated, it won the 2010 Grammy for best vocal jazz c.d. I think this is the first time I've agreed with the N.A.R.A. is a long time....RC

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Singing!, March 19, 2010

By 

Joel Rodriguez (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie with Love from Dee Dee (Audio CD)

Dee Dee Bridgewater is a fabulous singer and doesn't miss when she puts out some music. This one is in stride! While I don't find it as good as "Red Earth", it is a very good album. The musicians are superb and Dee Dee sings it up.
Sit back and enjoy.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best tribute I've heard, March 6, 2010

By 

Alessandro Filippini (Pistoia, Italy) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie with Love from Dee Dee (Audio CD)

Dee Dee Bridgewater is truly a great artist, and her tribute to Billie Holiday is excellent, full of respect. Buy it with confidence.