Search - Dave Brubeck, Chris Brubeck, Frederica von Stade :: Frederica von Stade Sings Brubeck: Across Your Dreams

Cross-over jazz equivalent of classical art song

Evalyn F. Segal | Philadelphia PA USA | 01/08/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is magnificent. I've been listening almost non-stop for two weeks, in-between my more usual fare of high-art classical music (mostly baroque & chamber music, renaissance, operatic). Frederica von Stade has a rich sexy voice and, although a world-famous opera diva, she understands jazz rhythms and how to bend a note. Chris Brubeck knows jazz backward and forward (some of the songs here are Dave Brubeck's, his dad, and some are his own). There isn't a clinker in the set, though some take more listenings to really get. This CD takes cross-over operatic-to-jazz singing to the level of Art Song. Hear von Stade parody Rosenkavalier in "raggy waltz" and the tender poignancy of the Mexican song arranged by Dave Brubeck and sung in lovely Spanish by von Stade. And catch her singing a duet with her teenage daughter. I'd rather listen to this CD than German lieder any day."