Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0724385548420
Label: Blue Note Records
Manufacturer: Blue Note Records
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Blue Note Records
Release Date: 1997-09-23
Studio: Blue Note Records

Throughout Cassandra Wilson's career, jazz critics have been presuming to tell her what to do. Instead, she maintains her own impressive balance among jazz standards, other popular songs, and originals, and among a "jazz" approach, a guitar-based country blues spareness, and art-pop inspired by one of her greatest influences, Joni Mitchell. Here she reminds us that she can bring tremendous freshness to standards. Star pianist Jacky Terrasson makes it almost easy for her. His standout contribution, though, is a tinkling, decidedly late-autumnal solo "Autumn Leaves." Bassist Lonnie Plaxico and percussionist Mino Cinelu contribute impressively on a trap-setless disc, on such numbers as a sad-soul "Tea for Two," and a slowed, bluesy rendition of "Tennessee Waltz." --Peter Monaghan

Customer Rating:
Summary: Yes, It Is Beautiful!
Comment: Originally at first listen I was going to give this a four-star rating, but after a careful consideration and repeated listening, I believe it is a conclusive five-star-affair.

Blue Note Records has the reputation of producing high quality and reliable jazz recordings. This album was recorded under Blue Note. Therefore, this is a high quality and reliable recording. You can't go wrong with Cassandra Wilson and Jacky Terrasson's "Rendezvous" - the material is quite notable and the sound quality is just great. The interpretations and arrangements are not boring, but inspired, unique, full of freshness and ingenious ideas, most of all, they are dramatically rendered. I believe Ms. Wilson and Mr. Terrasson wanted to create the kind of renditions that will set this album apart from other albums of standards. They wanted a distinctive style that is uniquely their own for these time-tested standards.

I love the way Ms. Wilson sings such timeless classics as "It Might As Well Be Spring," "I Remember You" and "Tea For Two." A seldom-recorded song, "Tenessee Waltz" was given a new twist and fresh and bluesy arrangement which makes it a very welcome addition to this set. Ditto with "Little Boy Lost" where she gives a lot of dramatic flair and heartfelt emotion to the song.

Jacky Terrasson gets the spotlight as he creatively plays Kosma and Prevert's "Autumn Leaves" and "Chicago 1987," an original composition which shows off not only his fine piano artistry, but his knack for composing as well. Another purely instrumental track is "Chan's Song," one of the finest compositions of Herbie Hancock, a Grammy-award-winning jazz pianist/composer.

She treats one of my favorites from Lerner and Loewe, "If Ever I Would Leave You" with a delicate and very calculated reading of the lyrics, carefully phrasing each and every line while Jacky Terrasson does a great job accompanying her on piano. He's not only a fine pianist, but also a talented arranger as well. He did all the arrangements on all tracks. They are joined by Lonnie Plaxico and Kenny Davis on bass, and Mino Cinelu on percussion. Each of them contributed their enormous talents to make this album as wonderful as it is, like Ms. Wilson's latest gift to her fans, Loverly.

This is the kind of album that grows on you with repeated listening. The more you listen to it, the more you'll enjoy it. Each listen comes with renewed enthusiasm, greater appreciation, and new discoveries of added charms and beauty. I'm very pleased with this album. And yes, it is beautiful!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: This is Fabulous!
Comment: Cassandra Wilson's voice and phrasing are as interesting and lovely as ever. The surprise is the interplay between instrument and vocals - the subtle conversation between the players. These are great muscians making music together. Don't buy this if you want to swing - buy it if you are going to sit and listen to what they are saying. This is one of my favorite all time CDs. The instrumentation is gorgeous.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Rhythm-less, slow, dull
Comment: I have just been listening to this album in a shuffle play with songs by Sarah Vaughan, Karrin Allyson and Johnny Hartman. Cassandra Wilson's performances are so much duller, slower and less alive than the other three that I keep skipping to the end of her songs when they come on.

I am a tenor myself, and I find it strange that Wilson is singing in my range, but I would never sing these songs the way she sings them. They don't swing.

I bought this album originally because I liked another album (Reach) by Jacky Terrasson, but this one isn't worth listening to.

Do yourself a favor, listen to a Sarah Vaughan record, or listen to a different album by Jacky Terrasson.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Neglected Gem
Comment: Have you ever had the experience where you've listened or read something and liked it, then put it down and didn't pick it up until years later, and then you really dug it?

I had that experience last year with Shirley Horn's 1992 "Here's to Life". And this year, I'm having that experience with 1997's "Rendezvous", a brilliant, creative work by the French pianist, Jacky Terrasson, and the world-class jazz singer, Cassandra Wilson.

This album is about standards, done in truly unique ways, generally in dreamscape-type of settings. "Old Devil Moon" is a sensual dreamscape; "It Might as Well Be Spring" is a pointillistic, jangly dreamscape (perfect for a "modern dance troupe"); "If Ever I Would Leave You" is a dream where time stands still; "Tea For Two" has a strange funky backbeat with a "c-a-b" riff played or implied throughout, and the song's intro sung as a coda; "I Remember You" is a swinging background with Ms. Wilson wrapping the melody in a completely different rhythm around the song's chord structure; and "Autumn Leaves" is other-worldly. Imagine fall foliage flittering down on the moon, and you have the idea.

Special note to Terrasson: besides being a terrific keyboardist, he wrote these arrangements, picking the perfect instrumentation throughout for the musical coloration. And perhaps because of that, Ms. Wilson's smoky, insinuating contralto fits each song like a glove.

This is not only a neglected gem generally, I think it's a neglected gem within the Cassandra Wilson catalogue. For me, other than "Blue Light 'Til Dawn", it's my favorite Cassandra Wilson album. Recommended--and if you're like me, you'll like it even more, eight years later. RC

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Female tenor with attitude.
Comment: There's more jazz on this album than on "New Moon Daughter," but Wilson still favors a studied, theatrical approach to the music. Whereas on the former album she goes out of her way to select non-standard instrumentation and genres, on "Rendezvous" she's less eclectic but no less iconoclastic in her approach to the material. She's a striking presence, and she uses her tenor-baritone range to create an aura, a spell, a dramatic image.

The main lineage of jazz singers--Billie, Ella, Sarah, Carmen, Nancy, Etta Jones and Shirley Horn--all approach the song as the primary end, using their individual voices and musicianship to bring it to life. Cassandra's image-conscious approach will appeal to those listeners who see the song as a mere starting point, as a vehicle for the artist's manipulations. She executes her chosen repertory with undeniable flare, imagination, and style, but she's as much "performance artist" as jazz artist.

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