Search - Rachel Z :: Everlasting

Isn't it weird how artists grope and flounder . . .

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 05/30/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

". . . until they hit on their exact right MO?Rachel Z, an exceptionally talented keys player, has struggled to find the proper outlet for her extraordinary talent. In her handful of previous releases, she hasn't really hit on it.Like so many others of late, she's found it here: the jazz trio.The difference from previous releases is that she's playing just about all Nu pop classics in an acoustic trio format.What she seems to have done is take the best from several other worlds: Brad Mehldau's and The Bad Plus's raiding of the current pop songbook; Hiromi's expansion of the jazz trio into a more flexible and morphing unit (mainly from the drum chair, in the case of Rachael Z); and the inclusion of an authentically avant-garde player (Tony Levin), a move perhaps borrowed from Marion Alter's brilliant If, which included Greg Cohen as the bass player.Recording for a hip, not-to-be-pinned-down label, Tone Center, also helps. One gets the feeling she's free to create just about any kind of music she wants. Some of the tunes scarcely resemble their pop analogues at all: "Wild Horses," gorgeously reconfigured as a sad waltz, with only fragmentary though stunningly nuanced hints at its beautiful melody; "Here Comes the Sun," again, almost unrecognizable, though, amazingly, tracking with its original sensibility; "Fields of Gold," retaining its inherent burnished melancholy, but gloriously reworked into a tune of intense longing and even loss.Hip, nuanced, smartly Postmodern, finely wrought, this is music of the highest order.Two thumbs WAY up."

The Ever Growing Artist

fabe113 | Brooklyn, NY | 06/08/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As an admirer of Rachel Z's music for many years- I have been impressed with the variety and scope of work that she has covered.It is interesting to listen to an artist whose life does show up completely in her music (sorry- I am a bit tired of an over produced Norah Jones with a rich Daddy or another Miles re-re-release with another 2 minutes of never before heard material- not to mention D. Krall... don't even get me started !!)It is good to hear something fresh and new- interpretations of songs that I do admire outside of Jazz (sorry I am not a pure Jazz fan - but an admirer of music and good songwriting as a whole..)Get it- you won't be dissappointed..."

Let the haters hate and the players play

Chelsea | philadelphia, pa United States | 06/10/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"From Wayne Shorter to Al Dimeola to the fusion group Vertu Rachel Z has proven there are few in her versatile class. Where as artists like Diana Krall (old songbook) and Norah Jones (country folk) are being billed as "Jazz Divas", Rachel Z has quietly been trail blazing a career for twice as long. This CD, Everlasting, borders on being a masterpiece. New standards, rock soul and such attention to detail! I rarely get the chance to experience it done this well. Rachel, unlike many of her peers, makes music for the people not just the old jazz purists and muzak outcasts. The songs that I find most refreshing of these pieces on Everlasting are Mortal, Ring of Fire, Kiss from a Rose and Field of Gold. They are approached from a modern flair and a jazz lioness' finesse. So much so that I find it hilarious that Z is compared to Norah Jones (whose every song sounds the same). Norah Jones is a country artist disguised as a jazz artist and Diana Krall is caught in a time warp. Bobbie Rae and Tony Levin are brilliant. This is music for the present and the future."