There is an intelligence and sophistication to Holly Cole’s singing that sets her apart. She can imbue well-worn standards and eclectic songs with an uncanny combination of sensuality, innocence, originality and sheer musicality. Cole takes tunes everybody thinks they know and discovers new undercurrents in the venerable anthems of contemporary composers, wrapping her honesty, compassion and sardonic wit around their sometimes-fragile creations. The results are sexy, provocative, spellbinding, sometimes dangerous and never, ever dull.

Along with Cassandra Wilson and Patricia Barber, the Canadian songstress has helped redefine the world of the female jazz vocalist. In Cole’s case, this can be directly linked to her ability to defy genre categorization and her ambitious musical choices. “I look at the essence of a song,” muses Cole. “If it’s a great lyric I often love to slow it down, explore it, dissect it and deconstruct it. I love to take it apart and then put it back together and look at it in an entirely different way. In the process, it often becomes more evocative. That’s a huge part of my art form, that’s a huge part of what I do.”  These abilities come into full focus on her 1995 Blue Note masterpiece, Temptation, which finds Holly skillfully interpreting material by the-one-and-only Tom Waits.

 

Tracklist

  1. Take Me Home 
  2. Train Song 
  3. Jersey Girl 
  4. Temptation 
  5. Falling Down 
  6. Invitation To The Blues 
  7. Cinny’s Waltz 
  8. Frank’s Theme 
  9. Little Boy Blue 
  10. I Don’t Wanna Grow Up 
  11. Tango Til They’re Sore 
  12. (Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night 
  13. Soldiers Things 
  14. I Want You 
  15. Good Old World 
  16. The Briar And The Rose 
  17. Shiver Me Timbers 
  18. (Looking For)The Heart of Saturday Night
  19. Last Rose of Summer