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"Live At Yoshi's"
Dee Dee Bridgewater's Live at Yoshi's
is more than just a glorious paean to the art of scat singing
by one of its foremost practitioners. Impeccably recorded, Yoshi's
is also that rare live recording that captures the excitement
and spontaneity of a performance without sacrificing the crystal-clear
sound quality that listeners expect from a studio album. The
audio is so good it's easy to imagine yourself smack in the middle
of the Oakland, California, nightclub for one of these April
1998 shows. And what shows those were. Dee Dee Bridgewater and
her topflight quartet--pianist/organist Thierry Eliez, bassist
Thomas Bramerie, and drummer Ali Jackson--put on a fireworks
display that showcases the group's thrilling interplay and playfulness
while giving Bridgewater ample room to demonstrate why she is
one of the jazz world's hottest vocalists, especially when it
comes to the vocalizations of scat. A commanding presence in
any setting, Bridgewater demonstrates her versatility by shifting
gears in a heartbeat from the up-tempo scatted bebop of "Cherokee"
to beautiful ballads like "Slow Boat to China" and
"Stairway to the Stars." What's more, she takes up
the greasy funk of James Brown's "Sex Machine" and
a long version of Cole Porter's "Love for Sale" that
weaves in snippets of Herbie Hancock's funky Headhunters arrangement
of "Watermelon Man." You'll be forgiven if, after the
set's rousing finale of "Cotton Tail," you stand and
applaud along with the crowd at Yoshi's. |
