Dionne's new album of Sammy Cahn songs released next month

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GehVorbei

Dionne's new album of Sammy Cahn songs released next month

Post by GehVorbei »

On March 15th 2011, Dionne Warwick will be releasing her first ever CD of Contemporary Jazz Standards entilted "Only Trust Your Heart", featuring Sammy Cahn classics on Sony Red!

Song Titles:

Only Trust Your Heart
You I Love
I'm A Fool To Want You
Wonder Why
The Second Time Around
Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are
I'll Never Stop Loving You
Some Other Time
I Fall In Love Too Easily
Keep Me In Mind
And Then You Kissed Me
Pocketfull Of Miracles
Bruce Bernard Williams
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Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2004 12:37 pm
Location: Tulsa

Re: Dionne's new album of Sammy Cahn songs released next month

Post by Bruce Bernard Williams »

I can't wait! Anything new by Dionne will be just what the doctor ordered! I have a CD by Davis Gaines entitled "All My Tomorrows-The Songs of Sammy Cahn". It was digitally recorded, mixed, and mastered (DDD), just the way I prefer recorded music. The playlist is something I won't include in this post. However, the title track is done superbly by another fine singer by the name of Julie Kelly. I was really hoping that Dionne would do that one for this collection.
GehVorbei

Re: Dionne's new album of Sammy Cahn songs released next month

Post by GehVorbei »

I think it's quite an inspired selection, they didn't just go for the obvious and the biggest hits. And Phil Ramone should bring some great understanding of what DW can do these days and what she can't . He seems an excellent pick as producer. And Sony Red, while not an obvious choice because they are gearing so much towards the "contemporary", will bring some muscle to the marketing. Apparently they are releasing it to coincide with Ms. Warwick's presence on "Celebrity Apprentice". That probably makes sense.
gillanddon
Posts: 224
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2010 6:54 am

Re: Dionne's new album of Sammy Cahn songs released next month

Post by gillanddon »

This is wonderful news. It should be fantastic!
GehVorbei

Re: Dionne's new album of Sammy Cahn songs released next month

Post by GehVorbei »

A first EP selection of 5 tracks from the album is available for download through Amazon and iTunes starting today.

Easily her best work since the "Aquarela" album. Phil Ramone has performed a small miracle here. Musically it is in the neighborhood of recent Diana Krall albums but Dionne is still a much better and more interesting singer than Mrs. Costello.

When I first listened to it just on my computer I felt it was a little flat but when I put my earphones on there was so much to be discovered, it is so rich, creamy and nuanced....

Last edited by GehVorbei on Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
gillanddon
Posts: 224
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2010 6:54 am

Re: Dionne's new album of Sammy Cahn songs released next month

Post by gillanddon »

Thank you for that tip! I will listen but can't wait for it's release on 15th!
nymusicalsguy
Posts: 275
Joined: Fri May 05, 2006 10:39 am

Re: Dionne's new album of Sammy Cahn songs released next month

Post by nymusicalsguy »

I'm surprised that it's been underplayed that Dionne has recorded a Bacharach song on her new album: "Keep Me in Mind," introduced by Patti Page in 1955 and co-written with Jack Wolf, one of the two songwriters Dionne is celebrating on this disc. (Sammy Cahn, of course, is the other.) From the brief Amazon sample, it appears that her take on the song is very different than Patti's, and is hardly recognizable as a Bacharach melody, but I'm sure that Dionne's intuition for Burt's music will make it a highlight of the album nonetheless!

Can't wait!
GehVorbei

Re: Dionne's new album of Sammy Cahn songs released next month

Post by GehVorbei »

It's just past 8 AM here in Berlin on the 15th and I just downloaded Dionne new album from iTunes. I've been a fan of hers since I caught her on German TV in 1980 for the first time having grown up only with classical music. And suddenly there was this exciting "pop singer" on television that had the same qualities that I admired in the greatest classical divas and more.

Ever since the release of a new Dionne Warwick album was always a special occasion to me and I remember very vividly every single time when I gold hold of my first copy and I'm sure many of you have those memories, too. And I have to go back to the early 90s if not the mid 80s that the first listen was such a happy occasion as today. It's such a classy and interesting album.

Dionne finally brings her towering qualities as a song stylist to the Great American Songbook and by doing so she also makes a strong and important case that Burt and Hal and DW were really always part of it. I never understood why Ms. Warwick's earlier attempts at "showtunes" and the Great American Songbook were so pedestrian - both in the 60s and the 80s. But here like latter years Sinatra or Lena Horne she takes her towering skills as a song stylist and ads enormous warmth and the unique perspective that comes with a lifetime of experience. I can not think of any contemporary Jazz vocalist that brings such emotional depth to this sort of material and such instinctive genius as a stylist. Dionne steps into Sarah Vaughans giant shoes and dances away with them...

One footnote: Sony Red scheduled this release to coincide in the US with the second episode of Celebrity Apprentice. This coming shortly after the reunion of Dionne and Friends for the AmFar gala honoring President Clinton and Dionne's performance at Clive Davis' Grammy party. I don't care why consumers are driven to this product, like for so long in Dionne's career the music speaks for itself.
BachtoBacharach
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Re: Dionne's new album of Sammy Cahn songs released next month

Post by BachtoBacharach »

I have listened to the tunes and must say that Dionne knocks the ball out of the park on this one. I was impressed with the warmth of her vocals and at age 70 she still has some awesome pipes. Phil Ramone didn't let anyone coast on this production and it's top-notch all the way. I hope this is the beginning of a new partnership between Phil and Dionne. I remember one record reviewer in Stereo Review wrote of the Arista album "Dionne" and remarked that it was a virtuoso performance by Dionne and referring to producer Barry Manilow (and to Burt Bacharach) saying "even the brightest flame sometimes needs a pilot light to burn." Perhaps Dionne has found another "pilot light" in Phil.
GehVorbei

Re: Dionne's new album of Sammy Cahn songs released next month

Post by GehVorbei »

I was mistaken, the album was not produced by Phil Ramone who Dionne mentioned in the early stages of the project as the producer. The album actually was produced by Mike Mangini who I know from his work with Joss Stone.
ron hertel
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Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2004 7:08 pm

Re: Dionne's new album of Sammy Cahn songs released next month

Post by ron hertel »

When I first heard about this recording project - I was more than a bit skeptical. ....... Much to my surprise - I am truly enjoying it! ...... . While it is clearly a stylistic departure for Dionne - her inimitable style and musicianship comes through on each and every track! ........ There's even a Bacharach Bonus ... "Keep Me In Mind"
GehVorbei

Re: Dionne's new album of Sammy Cahn songs released next month

Post by GehVorbei »

And apparently she is doing quite well in her new musical environment...

Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#3 in Music > Jazz > Traditional Jazz & Ragtime
#5 in Music > Jazz > Vocal Jazz
#17 in Music > R&B > Soul
GehVorbei

Re: Dionne's new album of Sammy Cahn songs released next month

Post by GehVorbei »

In the Billboard Jazz album charts week of April 2nd "Only Trust Your Heart" debuts at No. 10.
GehVorbei

Re: Dionne's new album of Sammy Cahn songs released next month

Post by GehVorbei »

Great review from the All Music Guide:


Dionne Warwick "Only Trust Your Heart" CD

Like many other veteran pop singers, at a certain point Dionne Warwick stopped following popular musical trends in search of hits and gave up making "regular" albums in favor of specialty or "event" recordings.

It might be argued that 2011's Only Trust Your Heart is her first "regular" album since 1993's Friends Can Be Lovers, even though she hasn't been absent from recording studios in between, coming up with a 1994 Brazilian album (Aquarela Do Brazil); an album of re-recordings of her old hits 1998 (Dionne Sings Dionne); another album of re-recordings 2000 (Dionne Sings Dionne 2) a Christmas album 2004 (My Favorite Time of The Year); an album of duet re-recordings of her old hits 2006 (My Friends & Me), and a gospel album 2008 (Why We Sing).

Actually, Only Trust Your Heart is, in a sense, another specialty album in that it is devoted to the work of a single songwriter, Sammy Cahn. It is not, however, billed as such, like 1990's Dionne Warwick Sings Cole Porter. Cahn may be the most underrated lyricist of his time (that time stretching from the 1930s to the `60s), in part because lyricists don't tend to get as much attention as composers; in part because he wrote more for Hollywood than for Broadway; in part because he worked with many composers, and in part because of his sheer versatility. That versatility is on display on this collection, which largely eschews Cahn's better-known works.

Warwick gives the songs a variety of musical settings, starting with the bossa nova arrangement of the title song and going on to small jazz bands, big string orchestras, solo piano accompaniments, and even a blues reading ("Keep Me in Mind"). She ignores previous interpretations, making each song her own. Cahn may have written "I'm a Fool to Want You" for Frank Sinatra (perhaps with Ava Gardner in mind), but Warwick, with her understated alto, gives it some of her typical sense of empowerment. Bing Crosby may have given "The Second Time Around" a jaunty tone after Cahn wrote it for him, but Warwick calms it down, working only with a piano and strings, reflecting on the theme of aging.

If she never really put both feet into any one genre of music, that has turned out to serve her well on a late album like this, on which she demonstrates a mastery of several classic pop styles, just as Cahn was able to switch gears as a lyricist-for-hire throughout his distinguished (if often unheralded) career.

~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide. (Williams is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.)
gillanddon
Posts: 224
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2010 6:54 am

Re: Dionne's new album of Sammy Cahn songs released next month

Post by gillanddon »

Wow! Thank you for that review GB!! I must say I LOVE the album more and more .. pure joy to listen to. It would be brilliant if her 50 year career could correspond with a grammy award for this great piece of work. Let's start now to plug for it cos that is the only way.
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