Search - Lisa B :: What's New, Pussycat?

For lovers as well as cat-lovers. In her third CD, jazz-pop-soul singer-poet Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) uses cats as a metaphor for relationships and the contrasts displayed by humans and other domesticated, sensuous creatures. "What's New, Pussycat?" explores the wild and the cozy, the passionate and the independent, the playful and the fierce. The CD combines original compositions with Lisa B's refreshing take on songs by Burt Bacharach/Hal David, Graham Nash, and Cole Porter. "What's New, Pussycat?" opens with the tune made famous by Tom Jones in the swinging 1960s. Lisa B's seductive vocals play against her trio's swinging rendition. Lisa's poetic and vocal talents are strong in "Slay Me (My Young Cat)," its spare groove animated by funky (former Isaac Hayes) pianist Ben Flint. Lisa B keeps exploring the rhythm of relationships on "Kitty-Cat Cha Cha (Cha Cha de la Gatita)," co-written with Latin jazz trombonist/arranger Wayne Wallace. While Graham Nash's sweet "Our House" only mentions cats in one memorable line, its mood is cat-like contentment. Next is Cole Porter's classic "Night and Day." Its passionate yearning, according to Lisa B, seems as spiritual as it is erotic, and she melds the standard with her magical spoken-word piece, "The Cat Goddess." The playful samba rhythms of "Crazy Cat," another original, echo the motifs of the CD: the tension between the domesticated and the wild personified by the cat. The CD's next two tracks address the related theme of home. In one, she interprets another Cole Porter song, turning "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" into a sensuous bossa nova. The poetry-rap "Warrior Cat" moves from a commentary on life in wartime to a meditation on the true warrior nature of the cat. The CD closes with "When Malika Sleeps," a lullaby for her aging cat and the slippery slope between life and death that we creatures all must face.