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Vocalist/pianist Diana Krall was a very hot property by the time this Impulse CD was released. Teamed in a trio with her regular guitarist Russell Malone and bassist Christian McBride, Krall here mostly emphasizes ballads having something to do with love. She is at her best on "I Don't Know Enough About You," "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You," and "How Deep Is the Ocean." However, Krall's earlier Nat King Cole tribute had more variety in tempos and moods and is recommended first. A decent but not essential release.© Scott Yanow /TiVo

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Since the 2010s undeniably belonged to Drake, the dominant figure in pop music, sales and impact, the way in which he would kick off the the 20s was highly anticipated. With Dark Lane Demo Tapes, his most recent mixtape since More Life released three years before (and between the two, the album Scorpion), the Toronto native’s game-plan is clear: directly address the listener with a certain romanticism, invite along some heavyweights (Future, Playboi Carti and even Chris Brown), and take the opportunity to settle some scores. There’re few surprises on this new project, and after all, why must there be? Drake is in autopilot and what we are have here is an offering to fans. Despite strong tracks like Time Flies, or the drill production on Demons (featuring big name on the contemporary drill scene, Fivio Foreign), Dark Lane Demo Tapes is not going to change anyone’s opinion of Drake. Nevertheless, Drake’s choice is clear: instead of elaborating individual tracks he has chosen to string together instrumentals while rambling over the top of them. It’s a mixtape after all, not an album. In this format, it’s often easier to make use of production that is more plainly rap. It’s therefore not too contentious to say that the stand-out tracks on the record, from War to Desires (featuring Future) and D4L (with Young Thug and Future once again), are those that are less sung. Awaiting the next album then. © Brice Miclet/Qobuz

Vocalist/pianist Diana Krall was a very hot property by the time this Impulse CD was released. Teamed in a trio with her regular guitarist Russell Malone and bassist Christian McBride, Krall here mostly emphasizes ballads having something to do with love. She is at her best on "I Don't Know Enough About You," "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You," and "How Deep Is the Ocean." However, Krall's earlier Nat King Cole tribute had more variety in tempos and moods and is recommended first. A decent but not essential release.© Scott Yanow /TiVo

Featuring recordings from February 1955 and released in 1958, Stay with Me is a late entry in Billie Holiday's career. She was fading, but hadn't lost the dramatic quality in her delivery, nor her ability to project and tell a shattering story. She's backed by trumpeter Charlie Shavers, pianist Oscar Peterson, guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Ed Shaughnessy. [Some reissues add three bonus cuts.]© Ron Wynn /TiVo

EMI/Zonophone's 2000 release Ode to Bobbie Gentry: The Capitol Years was the first CD-era compilation to make a serious attempt at summarizing Bobbie Gentry's remarkable recordings for Capitol during the late '60s and early '70s. Gentry didn't quite fit into any category. She was a singer/songwriter with a strong talent for folk narratives, but she had a husky, sexy voice and a predilection for blues and R&B. Her productions were slick and bright, perfect for AM pop radio, but she was pitched in a country direction. She wound up having success in many of these markets -- most notably with the Grammy-winning number one single "Ode to Billy Joe" -- but her music got increasingly idiosyncratic and her sales got increasingly smaller. Years later, her legacy seemed down to "Ode to Billy Joe," particularly since her Capitol catalog wasn't widely available, but Ode to Bobbie Gentry went a long way to restoring that reputation. It's not perfect by any means, however. It has a weird duality in that it favors her pop side yet leaves off many of her American chart singles: "Okolona River Bottom Band," "Louisiana Man," "Mornin' Glory," and the Glen Campbell duets "Let It Be Me" and "All I Have to Do Is Dream" are all missing. Yet it also tends to bypass stark, eerie mood pieces like "Casket Vignette" that are at the core of her cult legend in some quarters, since these prove how deeply her work could cut. So, this compilation winds up following compiler Dean Rudland's whims, which means it emphasizes material that plays up her pop and soul sides, including covers of "You've Made Me So Very Happy," "Son of a Preacher Man," "In the Ghetto," "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," and "Big Boss Man." This may not be the most unique of Gentry's work, even if it still bears her unique vocal style, and given the lack of compilations on the market, it's hard not to wish that these were left behind for some original work. Still, Ode to Bobbie Gentry has considerable merit, particularly in light of Raven's subsequent An American Quilt compilation. Where that disc focused on her quirkier material -- exactly the songs missing from here -- this is pitched at the mainstream that she most certainly played a part in during her peak. So, even though there's overlap with the Raven title, Ode to Bobbie Gentry certainly has its own character, one that's lighter and fluffier, but still quite appealing; for those who like the sound of Gentry's records, this is the preferable introduction (those who want her riskier material should turn to An American Quilt), but most listeners will need both.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Forget for a moment that The Best of Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday was tied into the release of the superb box set, Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia (1933-1944), thereby offering a bit of advertisement to the full-fledged set. That doesn't matter -- even if there was never a box set, this would have been a welcome addition to Billie Holiday's catalog, since it's the first concise, yet comprehensive, introduction to her groundbreaking, perhaps greatest, recordings. Over the course of two discs, nearly all of her finest moments for Columbia are chronicled (along with a handful of rarities to entice the curious to the big box), providing a welcome summary for serious listeners on a budget. Prior to this release, the Columbia recordings were available either individually, as part of the Quintessential series, or on haphazard single-disc collections. This provides a logical, thorough overview of her acknowledged peak at Columbia (meaning that there's nothing from Lady in Satin) and that may be enough for serious listeners who don't have the money or inclination to delve into the full box.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

There is no end in sight to the debate over Billie Holiday's career as a vocalist: Is the essence of her art to be found in her early recordings for Columbia or in the recordings she made for Verve at the end of her short and, by all accounts, miserable life? The early work finds her in clearer voice and singing with energy and conviction, while in the later recordings her voice is ravaged, yet more soulful and perhaps more nuanced. In 1992 Verve made its case for the latter position by releasing a monumental ten-disc box set containing everything Holiday recorded for the company between 1945-1959, and simultaneously released this 16-track sampler as a palliative to those who didn't have 150 dollars lying around. Nothing here will settle the argument for good, but this album does offer a good cross section of the latter part of her career, from the small-ensemble work with pianists Oscar Peterson and Jimmy Rowles to a nice performance of "All the Way" with an orchestra conducted by Ray Ellis. This probably should not be anyone's only Billie Holiday album, but it's a valuable, and at times moving, document of the end of a sad but illustrious career.© Rick Anderson /TiVo

Billie Holiday sang plenty of love songs throughout her career, yet it still seems a little odd to have a Holiday collection entitled Love Songs, mainly because her love songs were never quite so simple. And that's part of the problem here -- Holiday's art may be too rich for audiences who just want a collection of love songs like this. It's better to hear her in the context of her original sessions, but this remains a pretty good sampler of love songs from her Columbia recordings. If you want just a taste of her work, or are looking for a sultry, romantic album from Holiday, this isn't a bad bet -- just be forewarned that this is designed with casual fans in mind.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

The only true Purcell opera – the others considered to be semi-operas, a format closer to musical theatre – Dido & Aeneas is a masterpiece that offers such musical density that the piece was destined to radically influence the tastes of English society, which quickly embraced the arrival of entirely sung operas. The work was created in London in 1896, in a version that was surely more complete than the one that we possess today, according to the libretto by Nahum Tate which mentions a prologue of music that has since been lost. Taking on the myth of The Aeneid, the opera is a loose adaptation of Book IV of the work by Virgil. The British ensemble La Nuova Musica – whose recording of Couperin’s “Tenebrae Readings for Holy Wednesday” on harmonia mundi we so admired in 2016 – offers us a luminous and balanced version of the work, accompanied by a cast of top-notch soloists, Fleur Barron and Matthew Brook being first in line. A record released by PentaTone, this sneak preview is presented exclusively by Qobuz for download until September 21, 2023. © Pierre Lamy/Qobuz

The third album in Jacob Collier's ambitious Djesse series, 2020's Djesse, Vol. 3 finds the acclaimed British singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist exploring a vibrant mix of contemporary R&B, vintage-inspired funk, and hip-hop, all woven together by his kaleidoscopic electronic-based production. The set follows Collier's previous Djesse albums and again features a bevy of guest artists. This time out, he joins forces with Jessie Reyez and T-Pain on the kinetic "Count the People," Mahalia and Ty Dolla $ign on the lushly emotive "All I Need," and Tori Kelly on the swaggeringly soulful "Running Outta Love." We also get equally compelling contributions by Kimbra, Daniel Caesar, and Kiana Ledé. These are all gorgeously rendered songs that again underline Collier's reputation as a pop virtuoso, ably bringing together his love of '70s soul, jazz, EDM, and hooky pop.© Matt Collar /TiVo

Recorded "live" at the Paris Olympia, Live in Paris offers listeners Diana Krall's understanding of the musical techniques of composition, piano, and vocal improvisation on 12 songs from the Great American Songbooks of Cole Porter,Harold Arlen, George and Ira Gershwin, and contemporary artists Joni Mitchell and Billy Joel. Accompanied by the award-winning Anthony Wilson on guitar, John Pisano on acoustic guitar, John Clayton on bass, Jeff Hamilton on drums, and Paulinho Da Costa on percussion as well as the Orchestra Symphonies European on "Let's Fall in Love" and "I've Got You Under My Skin," the lovely vocalist heightens your listening pleasures with distinctive phrasings and tangible pathways to inside the creative imagination by getting inside harmony, the changes, and melodic structures. On Joel's "Just the Way You Are," Krall is accompanied by Christian McBride on bass, Michael Brecker on tenor saxophone, Lewis Nash on drums, and Wilson on guitar, among others. This song also resides on the soundtrack to the film The Guru and is probably one of the best ballads on the set due to the great solo from Brecker. His powerful but sensitive playing adds the ultimate expression and approach to the melody -- one with attitudinal preparation, which is always necessary for a song that has such familiarity and association with another musician. For those who may not have heard Krall perform "live," this recording will give you a firsthand account of the ambience and excitement of a musical evening with her.© Paula Edelstein /TiVo

Simply the Best is surrounded by some of the best situations a compilation can hope for. Tina Turner's work for Capitol past Private Dancer was spotty, she made a bunch of appearances on soundtracks and other artists' albums, and most of the tracks on Private Dancer are good enough to own twice. Almost half of Private Dancer shows up on Simply the Best, but you don't have to endure the way the original album spiraled down into slick fizzle. Instead you have to endure a misguided, pumped-up house remix of "Nutbush City Limits," but that's it. Everything else here is either top-notch or campy, certifiable fun. A duet with Rod Stewart on "It Takes Two" supplies the fun along with the new track, "I Want You Near Me" (Turner to lover: "You're so good with your hands/To help me with a hook or zip"). The two other new tracks tacked to the end beat out most of the album cuts the collection passes on, plus you get the bombastic "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" without having to buy a dull soundtrack. The oldest cut by years is the monolithic "River Deep-Mountain High," which is a bona fide classic but sonically out of place here. Reprogram the disc to play it at the beginning or end, skip the new "Nutbush" completely, and you've got sparkling, nearly perfect overview of Turner's postcomeback career.© David Jeffries /TiVo

Pianist/vocalist Diana Krall pays tribute to the Nat King Cole Trio on her Impulse! set. In general, the medium and up-tempo tunes work best, particularly such hot ditties as "I'm an Errand Girl for Rhythm," "Frim Fram Sauce," and "Hit That Jive Jack." Krall does not attempt to directly copy Cole much (either pianistically or vocally), although his influence is obviously felt on some of the songs. The slow ballads are actually as reminiscent of Shirley Horn as Cole, particularly the somber "I'm Through With Love" and "If I Had You." Guitarist Russell Malone gets some solo space on many of the songs and joins in on the group vocal of "Hit That Jive Jack," although it is surprising that he had no other opportunities to interact vocally with Krall; a duet could have been delightful. Bassist Paul Keller is fine in support, pianist Benny Green backs Krall's vocal on "If I Had You," and percussionist Steve Kroon is added on one song. Overall, this is a tasteful effort that succeeds.© Scott Yanow /TiVo