Search - Jeanne Lee, Mal Waldron :: After Hours

Jazz in slow tempo

01/21/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"four and a half stars. probably, the best ever vocal version of "you go to my head": intoxicating. what lee does with her voice is amazing. but there are excellent versions of other standards like "caravan", "good-bye pork pie" "straight ahead" and "fire waltz". and though not on the level of "you go to my head", a very good version of "ev'ry time we say good-bye". all in all, an excellent album from beginning to end, with mal waldron's monk-esque, hipnotic, slow tempo piano as a perfect accompaniment to lee's unparalleled voice. forget diana krall and norah jones, here we have a true heavyweight. long linked to avant-garde music, lee passed away in 2001, leaving an unfortunately small repertoire of jazz recordings. i strongly recommend "after hours", i only wish she had recorded more albums of standards... finally, the sound quality is incredible. recorded in france in 1994."