Customer Reviews

Quiet After the Storm

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

 

 

Wow! This CD is truly inspired from beginning to end. Diane's 'signature song' "Hello, Haven't I Seen You Before" is riddled with a new jazzy energy. "Comes Love" is a sultry vocal with a salsa-jazz arrangement. "Benediction" is an amazing tribute to Cannonball Adderly. Diane's phrasing on "Detour Ahead" is genius. "Nine" strikes a mood of idealism and promise. "When Morning Comes" is vocally extraordinary! The piano of David Torkanowsky sets musical magic to the arrangements. But this work doesn't just stop there. Added artists include George Duke, Joshua Redman, Roy Hargrove, Hubert Laws, Luis Conte, and Everette Harp, to name a few. Absolutely, one of Dianne Reeve's best.

Dianne Reeves is one of my favorite singers. This album is one of her best. I like it so much because it combines lots of different musical styles and still holds itself together as an "album". This one is right behind Dianne's "Art & Survival" album as one of my favorites (by the way, "Art & Survival" is nowhere to be found on Amazon....)

Dianne is sexy and jazzy with COMES LOVE and WHEN MORNING COMES. She does an incredible interpretation of BOTH SIDES NOW -- you can really feel her act/sing the lyric on this one. NINE is a great childhood song that has a driving, fun arrangement. And IN A SENTIMENTAL MOOD is Dianne's take on a classic tune.

Dianne Reeves sings with such emotion. She has a distinctive jazzy technique, but also has a way with a lyric. Her song selections have always impressed me.

Enjoy this one!

This is one CD that I have just about wore out. She masters these songs as only she can. I love the way she turned one of her own popular songs (Haven't I seen you before)around with a big band feel. Her cover of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" just makes you want to melt. The entire album is a must have. I worked a 16 hour day re-merchandising a a store with this CD carring me through the last 5 hours and I still wanted to listen.

The title of this album more likely than not refers to the one that came before it. 1994's "Art and Survival" was a strikingly bold and sometimes tumultuous work, finding Dianne Reeves taking more risks with one record than most jazz singers do in an entire career. Its followup, "Quiet After the Storm," is exactly what its title suggests: a more subdued, laid-back affair after Reeves got the energy of its predecessor out of her system. Unfortunately, inconsistency keeps the project out of Dianne's usual realm of greatness.

Things get off to a strong start with a reworked "Hello, Haven't I Seen You Before," previously a pop-flavored track on her "Never Too Far" release. The transition works surprisingly well, polished by a marvelous scat and ad lib section near the end. Then Reeves offers up a delicious version of the chestnut "Comes Love," surely one of her finest readings of a standard. "Smile," which she co-wrote with producer George Duke, finds her in the familiar territory of pop-flavored jazz, and the track's brightness is nearly blinding.

"Country Preacher" is better in theory than in practice, however. Writing lyrics for a classic Julian "Cannonball" Adderly tune as a tribute is a nice idea, but the hookless melody fails to leave a lasting impression. Similarly troubled are versions of Duke Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood" and Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now." While Reeves certainly gets points for versatility, both cuts are too politely arranged; neither song reaches a musical or vocal peak, and while they're definitely pleasant, at this point we simply expect more from Dianne's renditions. Furthermore, the folky, foreign-language "Yemanja/Sargaco Mar" sounds thumpingly out of place; inclusion on "Art and Survival" would have made much more sense.

Much better is her version of the standard "Detour Ahead," boasting a killer piano solo by Jacky Terrasson and another masterful Reeves vocal. The arrangement on the Harold Arlen classic "Sing My Heart" is simply devine, the sentimental ode to childhood "Nine" features one of Dianne's best lyrics, and the sultry jazz waltz of "When Morning Comes (Jasmine)," complete with intoxicating flute solo, is worth the price of admission all on its own. In the end, fans of Dianne's full-bodied, soulful vocals will definitely not want to miss the high points of "Quiet After the Storm"...but you might want to learn how to program your CD player first.

Although Dianne Reeves had already been making albums since the early 80s, Quiet After the Storm pretty well defines what this Grammy-winning jazz/soul vocalist had done up to 1995, when this cd was released with some excellent songs and arrangements here.

The first thing that should be mentioned is that the sound quality is superb throughout this CD. You could almost be forgiven for thinking you were listening to a brand new digitally recorded; vinyl copy. CDs don't normally sound as clean as this in my experience and every nuance and inflection of Dianne Reeves magical voice comes through. The whole production of the backing musicians on this album is also immaculate.

This is not really a pure jazz album from Dianne although most of the tracks are strongly jazz influenced, and the musicians are all from a jazz background.. The album is a mixture of jazz, pop and a bit of soul Track 1 - Hello, Haven't I Seen You Before is an up-tempo arrangement of a song Dianne previously had done, this time with a big band sound with Dianne singing frantically along and scatting towards the end. This is a pure jazz track and a brilliant opener. Detour Ahead is a laid-back jazz track and so is Duke Ellington's In A Sentimental Mood, both beautifully sung. When Morning Comes is another jazzy thing with a background flute playing and racy lyrics with Dianne doing one of her overtly sexy performances, perhaps a bit too obviously towards the end.

The pop track highlights are Smile, a soul/pop tune with lyrics by Dianne. Also excellent is her version of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now, arranged in a slow, jazzy vein, far removed from the composer's original. Finally Harold Arlen's Sing My Heart brings up the rear and is sung with pure passion by Dianne, one of my favourite tracks. The remaining few songs are all good but maybe not quite as strong as the highlights mentioned, and the only reason I deducted a star. Nevertheless Quiet After The Storm is a great album and comes highly recommended whether you are a soul or jazz fan.

Love the music, but the complete CD has a scratchy sound
which takes away from the listening enjoyment. And of course
you have to open it to find this out, which means the
product is then considered used. I was disappointed with
quality of this purchase.

Quiet After the Storm
If you love the voice as an instrument, this CD is a winner.
Diane Reeves' singing will touch your heart and have you singing yourself.
Get this one, even if Jazz isn't your chosen genre. There's something for anyone who has a heart.

Dianne Reeves blends crisp clean vocals with her jazzy roots in this eclectic uplifting album. The best I've heard from her yet!