Live at Yoshi's (Dee Dee Bridgewater album)

Last updated
Live at Yoshi's
Liveatyoshisdeedee.jpg
Live album by
ReleasedFebruary 15, 2000
RecordedApril 23–25, 1998
Venue Jack London Square, Oakland, California
Yoshi's, Oakland, California
Genre Vocal jazz
Length1:07:55
Label Verve
Producer Dee Dee Bridgewater
Dee Dee Bridgewater chronology
Dear Ella
(1997)
Live at Yoshi's
(2000)
This Is New
(1998)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Robert Christgau A− [2]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [3]
Tom Hull B+ [4]

Live at Yoshi's is a 1998 live album by Dee Dee Bridgewater, recorded at Yoshi's Jazz Club in Oakland, California, United States. [5]

Contents

Bridgewater sings several songs from her previous album, Dear Ella (1997), a tribute to the jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, who had died a year previously, and this live album was partly recorded on what would have been Fitzgerald's 81st birthday.

Reception

Robert Christgau commented, "After fruitlessly sampling whatever Bridgewater albums came my way for 25 years, I harbored few hopes that this one would escape decorum, delusions of grandeur, and/or commercial confusion just because it was live. But it does, and then it keeps on going. It's funny, it's sexy, it swings like crazy. Long workouts on 'Slow Boat to China' and 'Love for Sale' show off her fabled chops without dwelling on them. The many extended scats are worthy of Ella herself. Even the gaffe proves her heart is in the right place when she's out there working the crowd--James Brown's 'Sex Machine'." [2] All About Jazz review stated, "Power. Dee Dee Bridgewater is as formidable a vocalist as anyone singing. She is the Jackie Joiner of jazz vocalists. Her athletic style is infectious and she proves she is one of the few who jazz vocalists who can effectively scat and use other Betty Carter-like fireworks." [6]

Track listing

  1. "Undecided" (Sid Robin, Charlie Shavers) – 8:57
  2. "(I'd Like to Get You on a) Slow Boat to China" (Frank Loesser) – 6:09
  3. "Stairway to the Stars" (Matty Malneck, Mitchell Parish, Frank Signorelli) – 7:56
  4. "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" (Harry M. Woods) – 5:13
  5. "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine" (James Brown) – 2:32
  6. "Midnight Sun" (Sonny Burke, Lionel Hampton, Johnny Mercer) – 7:08
  7. "Cherokee" (Ray Noble) – 6:14
  8. "Love for Sale" (vocal melody: Cole Porter, music: Herbie Hancock) – 14:06
  9. "Cotton Tail" (Duke Ellington) – 9:42

Personnel

Chart positions

Chart (2000)Peak
position
US Jazz Albums ( Billboard ) [7] 20

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ella Fitzgerald</span> American jazz singer (1917–1996)

Ella Jane Fitzgerald was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scat singing</span> Vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all

Originating in vocal jazz, scat singing or scatting is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice solely as an instrument rather than a speaking medium. This is different from vocalese, which uses recognizable lyrics that are sung to pre-existing instrumental solos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dee Dee Bridgewater</span> American jazz singer (born 1950)

Dee Dee Bridgewater is an American jazz singer and actress. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of National Public Radio's syndicated radio show JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater. She is a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization.

Amos Leon Thomas Jr., known professionally as Leon Thomas, was an American jazz and blues vocalist, born in East St. Louis, Illinois, and known for his bellowing glottal-stop style of free jazz singing in the late 1960s and 1970s.

<i>Ella in Rome: The Birthday Concert</i> 1988 live album by Ella Fitzgerald

Ella in Rome: The Birthday Concert is a live album by Ella Fitzgerald, with a jazz trio led by Lou Levy, and also featuring the Oscar Peterson trio. Recorded in 1958, it was released thirty years later.

<i>Easy Living</i> (Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass album) 1986 studio album by Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass

Easy Living is a 1986 studio album by Ella Fitzgerald, accompanied by guitarist Joe Pass. Fitzgerald was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female at the 30th Annual Grammy Awards for her performance on this album.

<i>Dear Ella</i> 1997 studio album by Dee Dee Bridgewater

Dear Ella is a 1997 studio album by Dee Dee Bridgewater, recorded in tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, who had died the previous year.

<i>Jai deux amours</i> 2005 studio album by Dee Dee Bridgewater

J'ai deux amours is an album by Dee Dee Bridgewater. This was Bridgewater's first album of French music; she lived in France for more than two decades and speaks French.

"Midnight Sun" was originally an instrumental composed by Lionel Hampton and Sonny Burke in 1947 and is now considered a jazz standard. Subsequently, Johnny Mercer wrote the words to the song.

<i>Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver</i> 1995 studio album by Dee Dee Bridgewater

Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver is a 1995 studio album by Dee Dee Bridgewater, recorded in tribute to Horace Silver.

<i>We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song</i> 2007 studio album by Various

We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song is a 2007 tribute album to Ella Fitzgerald produced by Phil Ramone for Verve Records, released to mark the 90th anniversary of her birth. The "all-star" list of featured vocalists is backed for most part by an orchestra led by Rob Mounsey. The album contains the first release of a duet of Ella Fitzgerald and Stevie Wonder, who joined her on stage with her small band at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1977.

"Cotton Tail" is a 1940 composition by Duke Ellington. It is based on the rhythm changes from George Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm". The first Ellington recording is notable for the driving tenor saxophone solo by Ben Webster. Originally an instrumental, "Cotton Tail" later had lyrics written for it by Ellington. Later, more lyrics were written, based on the 1940 recording, by Jon Hendricks, and recorded by Lambert, Hendricks and Ross.

"(If You Can't Sing It) You'll Have to Swing It " is a song written by Sam Coslow for Rhythm on the Range that is strongly associated with Ella Fitzgerald.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong collaborations</span>

The collaborations between Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong have attracted much attention over the years. The artists were both widely known icons not just in the areas of big band, jazz, and swing music but across 20th century popular music in general. The two African-American musicians produced three official releases together in Ella and Louis (1956), Ella and Louis Again (1957), and Porgy and Bess (1959). Each release earned both commercial and critical success. As well, tracks related to those albums have also appeared in various forms in multi-artist collections and other such records.

<i>Dee Dee Bridgewater</i> (1976 album) 1976 studio album by Dee Dee Bridgewater

Dee Dee Bridgewater is the eponymous second studio album by American jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater. The record was released in 1976 via Atlantic Records label. She also released a self-titled album in 1980 via the Elektra label.

<i>Keeping Tradition</i> 1993 studio album by Dee Dee Bridgewater

Keeping Tradition is a studio album by American jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater. The album was recorded in Paris and released in 1993 via Verve Records label. The album was nominated for Best Jazz Vocal Performance in the 37th Annual Grammy Awards. Keeping Tradition opens a series of her critically acclaimed titles, of which all but one, including her wildly successful double Grammy Award-winning tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, Dear Ella, have received Grammy nominations.

<i>In Montreux</i> 1990 live album by Dee Dee Bridgewater

In Montreux is a live album by American jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater. The album was digitally recorded on July 18, 1990, at the Casino de Montreux during the Montreux Jazz Festival and released via Polydor Records.

<i>Live in Paris</i> (Dee Dee Bridgewater album) 1987 live album by Dee Dee Bridgewater

Live in Paris is a 1987 live album by American jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater. The concert was recorded on 24–25 November, 1986 at the jazz club New Morning in Paris. She is accompanied by her piano trio of the time. The repertoire reaches from jazz standards including Miles Davis' "All Blues" and the up-tempo "Cherokee" mostly associated with Charlie Parker, and sung by Sarah Vaughan, a "Blues Medley" to Aretha Franklin's Dr. Feelgood. She seemed leave her disco-funk efforts in America behind. Her following album Victim of Love would be another, before she left pop productions for good.

<i>Dee Dees Feathers</i> 2015 studio album by Dee Dee Bridgewater

Dee Dee's Feathers is a 2015 studio album by American jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater recorded together with trumpeter Irvin Mayfield and the eighteen-piece New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. The album was released on 14 August 2015 via OKeh and Masterworks labels.

<i>Prelude to a Kiss: The Duke Ellington Album</i> 1996 studio album by Dee Dee Bridgewater

Prelude to a Kiss: The Duke Ellington Album is a studio album by American jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater, recorded in tribute to Duke Ellington. The album was released on October 8, 1996, by Philips Records label. The album title was borrowed from the Ellington's tune. The release contais 12 tracks, which include the pop sounds of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

References

  1. Allmusic review
  2. 1 2 "Consumer Guide Reviews: Live at Yoshi's". Robert Christgau . Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  3. Cook, Richard. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings : Cook, Richard : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming. p. 163. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  4. "Tom Hull: Grade List: Dee Dee Bridgewater". Tom Hull . Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  5. Live at Yoshi's at AllMusic
  6. Baily, C. Michael (April 1, 2000). "Dee Dee Bridgewater: Live At Yoshi album review @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz . Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  7. "Dee Dee Bridgewater". Billboard. Retrieved 13 August 2020.