Karrin Allyson Wild For You: …easy, breezy, beautiful cover girl
Written: Jan 20 '05 (Updated Jan 21 '05)
Product Rating:
Pros: light and lustrous; snazzy, jazzy tunes with bounce and shine
Cons: Not ready for a complete makeover of your favorites? You better think twice…
The Bottom Line: Karrin Allyson colors her favorite songs in new shades of light jazz that sparkle and shimmer – these are completely new takes on old favorites and they are marvelous…
bob_tomato's Full Review: Wild For You [Digipak] by Karrin Allyson
About a week ago, I panned The Nylons for their less-than-stellar cover album, Fabric of Life. This week, I've discovered a cover album that proves everything old can be new again, with a brand new shine that will last and last…
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Introducing the new Cover Girl
Karrin Allyson is a Grammy-nominated (2002) jazz vocalist/pianist who consistently stretches the boundaries of the genre, wowing jazz fans and critics with her innovative takes on jazz and blues standards, Gershwin and Thelonius Monk, the ballads of John Coltrane, and even diverse sources like French and Brazilian music. Karrin is making a name for herself as a risk-taker, a musician who is not afraid to experiment with the music in order to fulfill her own vision for the sound of a particular project.
Jazz encompasses so much of what attracts me to music. It's got intellect. It's got humor, soul, swingability. It's a vehicle for doing whatever song that we like and trying to make it our own.
Karrin Allyson - Downbeat, September 2004*
For Wild For You, Karrin chose to cover songs written or performed by her favorite singer/songwriters during her teenage years. She wanted to re-color these songs as her own for this recording, but she didn't wish to merely play them as she and her band had often done in the past - she wanted to make them into something new. She worked with arranger Gil Goldstein to craft new sounds for old songs that would make them her own, yet would still echo the original song.
I didn't want them so out there that they would be unrecognizable…I wanted them to be accessible enough that I'd be comfortable singing them, the band could be comfortable playing them and, therefore, they'd be better to listen to. I think you have to respect the original; we're always going for that. But you also have to make the songs your own.
Karrin Allyson – Kansas City Star, May 3 2004**
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Wild For You
Most of the songs chosen for Wild For You should be familiar to the older VH1 generation. Karrin selected thirteen songs by artists like James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Carole King and Carly Simon, and though their songs have been subjected to major makeovers, you can still get a sense of the original at the core of each track. An example:
Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word is a touching, emotional ballad in its original form, surely one of Sir Elton's most beautiful melodies. The band – guitars, piano, acoustic bass, drums – holds back, way back. The arrangement is sparse, creating the sound most often associated in films with a singer and her band playing sad songs in an empty cafe long after everyone has gone home. Given the space to sing such a wonderful melody in front of this classically Parisian backdrop, Karrin fills the void with a voice that is full of regret, yet at the same time is emotionally drained, holding out for the slimmest chance of forgiveness. Elton's pop ballad is transformed from a sad song saying so much into a gut wrenching, mournful and very real heartache – Karrin's interpretation breathes new life into the song, making it so much more real, so much more familiar.
This heightened sense of emotional reality is apparent in every song, and is the key to this album. Karrin chose the songs she was wild for as a teenager, and it is obvious that each song resonates deeply within her. I think the best way a musician can pay tribute to favorite songs by other artists is to perform those that she truly cares about, those songs that are special to her. When an artist has this deep connection to a song, the original version echoes within the new performance, creating something unique that can be appreciated on entirely different levels, opening the song to rediscovery for the listener as well.
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The Right Thing to Do
And what songs to rediscover! They are all classics of the seventies and it's nice to hear them revisited with such care and skill. Other than the Elton John track which is my favorite so far, the best tracks are Joni Mitchell's All I Want and Help Me - it's original flowing melodic line works marvelously in a free jazz interpretation, and Karrin lets it wander into new territory vocally before adding her own piano interpretation. It's probably not surprising that the songs by female singer/songwriters seem to work better for Karrin than those written by men.
At the end of the album, Karrin makes an interesting programming choice by featuring songs made famous by the same artists back to back. Carly Simon's Mind on my Man is followed by The Right Thing to Do, two songs from early on in Simon's marriage to James Taylor. Closing out the album are two Roberta Flack cuts, Feel Like Makin' Love and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. I don't know if Karrin made the deliberate attempt to make some sort of lyrical statement about relationships in choosing to put these four songs in this particular order, but the first time I listened through the songs, I was struck by the progression of the lyrics, as if this love was growing over time.
There's a certain dreamlike quality about the musical arrangement of Mind on My Man which fits well with the inner musings of the young woman in love with a man who hasn't yet returned her love fully. The sounds of The Right Thing to Do are a little more strident, more sure as the relationship has moved into a more committed phase. Appropriately enough, some of the strongest percussion on this recording occurs in Feel Like Makin' Love; Karrin delivers a marvelously sensual vocal showing that the relationship has moved on to real passion. Finally, Karrin and her band deliver a wonderful interpretation of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. The song is so light and airy, a morning after reflection that evokes feeling of that curiously unique joyful fulfillment that only the culmination of real love can bring.
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All I Want
Needless to say, I'm very impressed with the overall production of Wild For You - from the choice and programming of the songs to the arrangements in which they are presented, from the multiple layers of vocal expression that Karrin brings to each song to the small jazzy nuances that drift throughout – this is a well-designed, well-crafted album that I highly recommend. These are matured expressions of familiar songs; Karrin's teenaged crush on these artists and their music has grown into a deep passion for the material. Her varied tastes in sonic styles and the band's ability to be flexible and play innovative arrangements remakes these songs into new entities that can be enjoyed all over again by older pop fans and jazz aficionados alike. Karrin Allyson's Wild For You is an album that recolors familiar tunes in completely new hues that will delight the discerning ear.
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Karrin Allyson - Wild For You
Originally released June 8, 2004 by Concord Records.
All quoted song lyrics are the copyrighted property of their owners
Track Listing (Original Artist)
All I Want (Joni Mitchell) / Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight (James Taylor) / Wild World (Cat Stevens) / (Goin') Wild For You Baby (Bonnie Raitt) / Help Me (Joni Mitchell) / Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (Elton John) / I Got Eyes (Melissa Manchester) / The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress (Linda Ronstadt) / It's Too Late (Carole King) / Mind On My Man (Carly Simon) / The Right Thing To Do (Carly Simon) / Feel Like Makin' Love (Roberta Flack) / The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face (Roberta Flack)
Visit Karrin Allyson's Official Website at:
http://www.karrin.com
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