From Jazz and Conversation
Dianne Reeves At Her Best. 
Dianne Reeves Movie Mix
From: Good Night And Good Luck - Original Soundtrack (Concord Records - 2005).
Any moviemaker that wants to include jazz in their movie, that's fine with me. And even better when they approach the music with respect. Thumbs up to George Clooney.
This disc won a 2006 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal performance, and deservedly so.
Although she's made a handful of stellar albums in her 20+ years of recording, this is a recording that Dianne Reeves was meant to make, as she lays down a mix of ballads and mid-tempo standards, done straight and unadorned, with a great small combo backing her up, featuring Matt Catingub on sax; Peter Martin, piano; Robert Hurst and Chris Luty sharing the bass duties; Jeff Hamilton on drums; and Alex Acuna playing percussion.
Rather than use the actual recordings from the late 40's and early 50's to lend atmosphere to his film, Director Clooney instead picked out a handful of tunes, and brought in Reeves (looking a lot like Dinah Washington) and company to enact a faux-1950's recording session, shot in a stellar black and white. Just about every tune on the CD was shot live for possible inclusion into the film (Clooney used Reeves spartingly in the final cut.) It would be cool if all the footage of the recordings will someday be seen on DVD.
This mix features a slow bluesy version of Nat Cole's Straighten Up and Fly Right; a slow finger-snapping rendition of Too Close For Comfort; How High The Moon, arranged as a ballad; the Latin-flavored Pick Yourself Up, and a stunning recording of Duke Ellington's Solitude.
With a plethora of new Jazz singers flooding the music market , it's a relief and a joy these days to actually hear some vocal performances with style, depth, and character. Bravo!
[Jazz and Conversation]
10:47:08 PM 
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