Songs for Petra: Petra Haden Sings the Zorn / Harris Songbook
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Track listing
- 1 Easy Time
- 2 Lost in the Rain
- 3 Nothing
- 4 The Wind in the Clouds
- 5 It Was Innocent
- 6 Kafiristan
- 7 Waiting for Christmas
- 8 All This Time
- 9 Listen
- 10 Taking My Time
- 11 My Forbidden Tears
- 12 I Never Thought
- 13 Over Your Head
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3 Issues
- Release view [combined information for all issues]
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Songs for Petra: Petra Haden Sings the Zorn / Harris Songbook Limited Edition
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Songs for Petra Digital file, Streaming
1 Review
In a discography where the exception aspires to be the rule, it is not inconceivable to encounter, for once, a simple songbook of vocal jazz. What’s for sure is that, if blindfold-tested, it would be hard to attribute an album like Songs for Petra to the work of the New York maverick, were it not for the unmistakable klezmer inflections of certain tunes and for the instrumental mastery typical of the downtown scene that’s been gathering around John Zorn over the years.
The protagonist and dedicatee of this project is Petra Haden, daughter of legendary jazz double bass player Charlie Haden: singer and violinist with numerous and diverse collaborations, active since the mid-nineties, Haden interprets here thirteen songs picked from Zorn’s immense repertoire, purposely rewritten along with singer/songwriter Jesse Harris, winner of a Grammy Award in 2013 for the song “Don’t Know Why” (performed by Norah Jones) and him, too, already involved in previous Tzadik projects.
Although not totally foreign to easy listening, and even less to his own forms of melodic intimism, in this particular occasion Zorn certainly does not navigate the waters most congenial to him. As always it’s the individual performers, the beating heart of his entire production, that really make all the difference: the chamber setting reduced to the essentials includes, besides Harris’ acoustic guitar, Kenny Wollesen on vibraphone, Julian Lage on electric guitar and Jorge Roeder on bass – the latter being the only new entry in Zorn’s galaxy, returning briefly in the following record, Azoth.
It’s thanks to the poised interplay of these well-established instrumentalists that the songbook, rather constant in its warm autumnal mood, never results in a tedious monotony: on her part, Petra Haden moves effortlessly between sly blues (“Lost in the Rain”, “Waiting for Christmas”), lopsided tiptoes around off-centered keys (“Nothing”,”I Never Thought”), suave vespertine ballads (“It Was Innocent”, “Listen”, “Over Your Head”) and more or less evident hat-tips to the guiding light Morricone (“Kafiristan”). With this, however, the ensemble fails to achieve any substantial expressive peak such as to render the album memorable rather than simply enjoyable: considering the rarity of such a setting, truly a missed opportunity.
The protagonist and dedicatee of this project is Petra Haden, daughter of legendary jazz double bass player Charlie Haden: singer and violinist with numerous and diverse collaborations, active since the mid-nineties, Haden interprets here thirteen songs picked from Zorn’s immense repertoire, purposely rewritten along with singer/songwriter Jesse Harris, winner of a Grammy Award in 2013 for the song “Don’t Know Why” (performed by Norah Jones) and him, too, already involved in previous Tzadik projects.
Although not totally foreign to easy listening, and even less to his own forms of melodic intimism, in this particular occasion Zorn certainly does not navigate the waters most congenial to him. As always it’s the individual performers, the beating heart of his entire production, that really make all the difference: the chamber setting reduced to the essentials includes, besides Harris’ acoustic guitar, Kenny Wollesen on vibraphone, Julian Lage on electric guitar and Jorge Roeder on bass – the latter being the only new entry in Zorn’s galaxy, returning briefly in the following record, Azoth.
It’s thanks to the poised interplay of these well-established instrumentalists that the songbook, rather constant in its warm autumnal mood, never results in a tedious monotony: on her part, Petra Haden moves effortlessly between sly blues (“Lost in the Rain”, “Waiting for Christmas”), lopsided tiptoes around off-centered keys (“Nothing”,”I Never Thought”), suave vespertine ballads (“It Was Innocent”, “Listen”, “Over Your Head”) and more or less evident hat-tips to the guiding light Morricone (“Kafiristan”). With this, however, the ensemble fails to achieve any substantial expressive peak such as to render the album memorable rather than simply enjoyable: considering the rarity of such a setting, truly a missed opportunity.
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21 Aug 2021
16 May 2021
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10 Mar 2021
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1 Easy Time
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2 Lost in the Rain
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3 Nothing
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4
The Wind in the Clouds
-
5 It Was Innocent
-
6 Kafiristan
-
7 Waiting for Christmas
-
8 All This Time
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9
Listen
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10 Taking My Time
-
11 My Forbidden Tears
-
12 I Never Thought
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13 Over Your Head
4 Feb 2021