Customer Reviews

Let's Get Lost

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is really strange: within two days of buying this album which is called LET'S GET LOST (The Songs of Jimmy McHugh) I inadvertently picked up an album by a favorite vocalist named Weslia Whitfield which is called LET'S GET LOST (The Songs of Jimmy McHugh). There is no contest and comparisons are odious. Both albums get the highest of marks.

I'd never heard Blanchard before and, frankly, bought the album because it features three singers I'm quite fond of and one (Jane Monheit) I'd wanted to hear since friends spoke admiringly of her work. Diana Krall's single track, the title song, is dizzyingly beautiful: her sexy whisper of a voice is perfectly complimented by Blanchard's wonderful trumpet work. In fact, Blanchard shines on every track, a few of which I simply had to listen to 3 and 4 times: this is some of the best jazz I've ever heard.

I'm especially fond of Cassandra Wilson and Blanchard's version of "On The Sunny Side of The Street" which is completely different from any one I've ever heard before. "Lost In A Fog" is new to me and is really memorable in this long, cool arrangement for trumpet, piano, bass, drums & tenor sax.

But it's the entire album, this collection of eleven themes and jazz variations, that is just about perfect. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Terence Blanchard plays a soft muted trumpet on Let's Get Lost. He has recorded some great standards (all the songs were written by Jimmy McHugh.),some you will recognize, others you will not. However, every song is a gem. Blanchard has surrounded himself with female guest vocalists (Diana Krall, Cassandra Wilson, Diana Reeves, and Jane Monheit) for the vocal tracks. Each vocalist adds her flavor to her particular song, however the CD flows seamlessly and does not have the feel of a compilation. In addition, the instrumental tracks are all wonderful jazz recordings. Blanchard has steered away from his usual hard bebop styling to deliver a smooth jazz CD of standards. If you like standards, this CD is not to be missed.

This is a wonderful tribute to Mr. Jimmy McHugh as Blanchard teams up with four very distinct female voices -- Diana Krall, Jane Monheit, Diane Reeves and my favorite singer of all time Cassandra Wilson. Though the ladies are very good on their contributions, my favorite track is an instrumental "You're a sweetheart."

Terence Blanchard is Spike Lee's former musical director, and I've been fond of Blanchard's work since he did the score X back in '93 ( I think). That was my intro to his aesthetic, and he never fails to impress me with his workmanship. His music manages to exude popular appeal while maintaining artistic integrity -- unlike most of what you hear on these smooth jazz stations.

Of the vocal selections, my favorites are the title track sung beautifully by Diana Krall, "The Sunny Side of the Street," which Ms. Wilson slows down to low simmer and the playful "I Can't Give You Anything but Love," done by Jane Monheit. I dig Dianne Reeves too on "Can't Get out of This Mood."

This music is lush, mellow and atmospheric -- whenever I play this CD I feel like I'm in some jazz lounge. This is an excellent CD.

Terence Blanchard has created another great album. He continues to show why he is one of the greatest trumpeters of the last 20 years. On this album he is backed by his regular group, with four singers taking turns on seven of the eleven Jimmy MgHugh tunes.

The most remarkable thing about this album is how Blanchard takes the tunes, which are normally faster swing tunes, and gives them a very laid-back mood, almost making them seem ominous. This may sound strange, but it all works out beautifully in the end.A second very cool thing is how well the group works together. Pianist Ed Simon, bassist Derek Nievergelt and drummer Eric Harland keep the mood and tone perfectly throughout each song. The addition of Terence Blanchard's inventive tenor man Bruce Winston, who plays on a few cuts, makes the album that much more enjoyable.

Overall, "Let's Get Lost" is a brilliano album. Terence Blanchard's unique and instantly identifiable trumpet and the sweet voices of Diana Krall, Jane Monheit, Dianne Reeves and Cassandra Wilson make this my favorite album of the year so far.

The reason i bought this CD is because it features my favourate vocalist Diane Reeves but when hearing what a wonderful Trumpeter Mr Blanchad is I was speechless.The CD opens win with marvelous rendition 'lets get lost' with Diana Krall on vocals & as usually known she never fails to impress whether u like her voice or not She is gonna be here in this world of Jazz for a long time to come.The show stopper for me is "too young to get steady" with Jane Monheit on vocals how! what a sweet voice with Blanchad swaying & swerving his trumpet so soulfully. "You are a sweetheart" is the best instrumental song for me & "Lost in a fog a 9 min. plus track will take u from your living room to some other place u have never been.Now Diane Reeves adds a wonderful rendition on " I cant believe you are in love with me" she is also very convincing on "Cant get out of this mood" like as if she is acting u hear the voice of a person who is really into something she really cant believe why cant it stop.Ms Wilson has a surprisingly baritone & yet feminine voice i was very surprised on "dont blame me". The supporting cast is very good esp. the bass,tenor sax & drums.Overall this CD is a MUST HAVE as ALL songs are beautiful.Its very funny that I have never actualy been attracted to the trumpet as an instrument(with exception to Miles Davis) but after hearing this CD I have definately changed my mind. This CD appeals to R&B, jazz,Soul fans as it is delivered not really in the traditional jazz settings but relaxed mood jazz.one reviewer is concerned about this CD being "watered down jazz compared to Blanchad previous works" if I may say. My replication to that is, not everyone likes "traditional jazz" i.e hardcore renditions. As time goes by we need someone to bring new life to these "standards" songs & that person in this case is none other than Terence Blanchad if U wanna enjoy this CD thouroghly ,play it in the late evenings or early mornings when the noise from the streets is less. Go on & invest on this CD you won't be disappointed.

If you only buy this CD for Blanchard/Monheit's interpretation of TOO YOUNG TO GO STEADY, you will have gotten more than your money's worth.

The other cuts are very, very good, but TYTGS evokes New York on a rainy day...smooth, slow and terribly sensual. The cut will stop you dead in your tracks.

The four women Blanchard chose to spotlight on the CD are extraordinary vocalists in their own right, but paired with Blanchard's mellow horn, their stylings really soar.

This CD will never leave my player! It's that good.

Enjoy!

What more can I say about this superb album that hasn't been said already but I'll give it a try. This is truly American Jazz music at it's finest, it isn't a ground breaking album but it's one lovers of jazz music MUST have in their collection, if it doesn't win any grammy's then there isn't any justice. As for the vocalists, I'd replace only one of them with Ms Carmen Lundy (check out her new album 'This is Carmen Lundy'). Mr Blanchards playing has a warmth and vitality, which manages to give something extra to the music, laid back in parts but with a nice kick, definately not background music. Despite the appearance of four very different vocalists, it remains HIS album throughout, listen to his playing on ' You're a sweetheart', superb (Miles must be smiling). Perhaps, I am being overly enthusiastic in calling it a Masterpiece but that's what it is and Jimmy McHugh must have a tear in his eye, when listening to it beyond the pearly gates!

...Because he lets you like him, and like his music. In the world of jazz, where you must begrudgingly say you either like or dislike the iconic image and oft-misquoted rhetoric of Wynton Marsalis (while still having to then again listen and decide why you like or dislike his actual playing and compositions), Terence, as he has done for me since the eighties, returns you to the paradoxical world that seduces you like a great actor into suspending your disbelief; suspending your disbelief in hearing the universalization of his distinctly personal style. You listen and know it is him, but feel as if you are listening to pure jazz; that which comes from something other than an individual. Like Miles or Coltrane--or Branford or early Wallace Roney, et. al.--you feel his personal style transcend itself into becoming a pure adjective that future artists will seek to emulate as if were its own substructure or dialect within the language of jazz itself.

You hear and feel that on every cut of this CD. In high school in the 80's listening to the triumphant-ness of Wynton and his simultaneously polyrhythmic and simple blues and swing structured early albums, I felt as if the spirit of Miles in the early to mid sixties (with Herbie Hancock, Tony and the rest) had been reborn and was continuing. And then Wynton seemed to have read too many of the wrong books and became a jazz curator as opposed to a musician in the years afterward--something debateably equally important but profoundly different. Terence gives me the feeling as if he has taken the spirit-baton from Wynton--the one Wynton took from Miles--and "got lost" with it; knowing one can never truly be lost when they have truly found themselves.

Every singer on this CD is in their artistic prime it seems; each one has something powerful to say. The polyrhythmic improvisation on one of these cuts made me laugh out loud with joy when I first heard it in a music store.

If you don't get the feeling that something beautiful in American Music has returned to us with this great CD, it could only be because you are a lot hipper than the rest of us, and know that it never left. But trust me, whatever you want to call IT, IT is on every cut of this wonderful CD by a wonderful trumpeter, his incredible band and poet-singer friends.

A must have for jazz lovers and everyone who just likes good music.

I bought this as a Father's Day present for my Dad who is a jazz-lover extraordinaire. He went on and on about what a great CD this was, and how all the artists represented were an incredible collection of talent. I like jazz myself, but Dad LOVES it. And he loves this CD.

This CD sparkles. The work by the muscians is first-rate; the CD sounds great (no production and engineering flaws on this one). All the vocalists are in fine form. I'm pleased to say that it's too hard to single out a song as special on this CD.