Asserting Brilliance
What’s not to excite and like: phenomenal songs; stellar
cast; heartfelt homage? Laura Nyro’s intense and emotive pop/soul originals
will not be bettered, but the interpretations refracted through both Billy
Childs’ jazz overview and varying artists’ expertise are bound to dazzle. And
they do, every time. Opener New York
Tendaberry with soprano Renée Fleming and cellist Yo-Yo Ma embraces
the pop pomp with palpable emotion; fourth Upstairs
By a Chinese Lamp has Esperanza Spalding’s voice dancing romantically with
Wayne Shorter’s saxophone across Child’s lush piano floor; fifth Been on a Train is graced with the
empathetic street-sass vocal of Rickie Lee Jones, and sixth Stoned Soul Picnic [such a classic song]
gets a beautiful soulful update from the singer Ledisi – breaking into
jazz-funk when moving beyond those further lush orchestrations.
It simply
continues brilliantly, but I just paused for breath. Seventh is the glorious Gibson Street sung as a powerful jazz
ballad by Susan Tedeschi, sans guitar, and the album closes on tenth And When I Die with Alison Krauss
contributing her distinctive gentle vocal caress, and Jerry Douglas providing his
trademark dobro – this Country pair adding to the ample evidence that Nyro’s
songwriting asserts itself powerfully and movingly within any presentation.
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