NNENNA FREELON - Better Than Anything : The Quintessential Nnenna Freelon (2008) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Nnenna Freelon has recorded for the Concord label since 1996. Better Than Anything has some of the high points from her first nine years with the company, drawing its dozen selections from six previously released CDs. Freelon had developed into an individual voice and a subtle improviser before she hooked up with Concord but she has grown in depth ever since, being increasingly willing to take chances and stretch herself into other idioms while staying true to her jazz vision. On Better Than Anything, seven of the dozen selections are jazz standards, with "I Say a Little Prayer" and "Balm in Gilead" being among the exceptions. But even such tunes as "Them There Eyes" (taken from a project that had modernized versions of Billie Holiday-associated songs) and "Body and Soul" sound different than expected. The most joyful performance is "Straighten Up and Fly Right," which teams Freelon with Take 6. They should record a full-length project someday. Better Than Anything is an excellent all-round sampler, although Nnenna Freelon's best fans will prefer to obtain her original CDs individually. by Scott Yanow  
Tracklist :
1     Better Than Anything 4:54
Bill Loughborough
2     I Won't Dance 4:33
Dorothy Fields / Otto Harbach / Oscar Hammerstein II / Jerome Kern / Jimmy McHugh
3     Straighten Up and Fly Right 3:23
Nat King Cole / Irving Mills
feat: Take 6          
4    Nature Boy 4:14
Eden Ahbez
5     Them There Eyes 5:11
Maceo Pinkard / Doris Tauber / William Tracey
6     I Say a Little Prayer 4:16
Burt Bacharach / Hal David
7     Body and Soul [Live] 4:52
Edward Heyman
8     Button Up Your Overcoat 4:57
Lew Brown
9     The Tears of a Clown 7:26
Henry Cosby / Smokey Robinson / Stevie Wonder
10     Ooh Child 5:11
Stan Vincent
11     One Child at a Time 3:58
Nnenna Freelon
12     Balm in Gilead 4:49
Public Domain