Customer Reviews

Vanessa Rubin Sings

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

 

 

Not a great or essential cd but Vanessa Rubin has an excellent voice which lends itself to jazz. Only eight of the selections that I recognized but she does a nice job on everything.

One that surprised me was "All For One" which is apparently the vocal version of Wayne Shorter's "Speak No Evil". "Morning" is one I associate with the late Cal Tjader. Steve Turre plays conch shells on this one .....and it works. He also makes three other appearances on trombone. Toots Thielemans appears on "Once Upon A Summertime" and "Close Enough For Love".

One of my favorite cuts is "Black Coffee". I read a review elsewhere by a professional critic that said the best versions of this have already been recorded so many times and it is dated material so "why do it again?". I disagree since it's one I still like to hear and the bass entrance and Steve Turre's growling trombone solo along with her aside comments about the relationship with her man make it a very entertaining version.

Bottom line, I think it has some very good listening to offer as some variety in one's collection.

Critical write ups of this fine record always fail to mention that Ms. Rubin does her own takes on two STING songs from his TEN SUMMONER'S TALES disc . She does a beautiful job with both . "It's Probably Me" and "Seven Days" . Kevin Eubanks (guitar) graces the disc's first two tracks beautifully (soloing so beautifully) . Toots Thielemans plays wonderful harmonica on two other tracks of the twelve here (soloing amazingly) . Steve Turre plays magnificent trombone on three tracks and conch shells on yet another (soloing gorgeously) . The Drummer on six songs is none other than Marvin "Smitty" Smith (playing remarkably , as always) . Alex Acuna is the drummer on three others . Dave Carpenter plays acoustic bass on three songs . Bob Hurst is the acoustic bassist on five others . Michael Lang is the lone pianist (acoustic only) on six numbers . Oscar Castro-Neves is heard on acoustic guitar on four songs . Paul Jackson Jr. does fine guitar work on three songs . Two songs are duets for Ms. Rubin and pianist Mr. Lang (playing hugely evocatively and lyrically) alone . A third , equally lovely , duet finds Ms. Rubin in the wonderful care of Mr. Castro-Neves . I'd , personally , advise you to largely ignore the professional critics of this sensational disc , as every player here is in full support of the lovely and poised Ms. Rubin on every single song . A languid and collectable keeper for the discerning listener . A great disc from a swell lady .

This cd is a must for any singer over 30! She is the bomb!

Though I didn't receive my product, it was because I put the wrong zip code on the delivery form. They were quite easy to work with in fixing the problem.