NNENNA FREELON - Blueprint of a Lady : Sketches of Billie Holiday (2005) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Nnenna Freelon had no intention of making her tribute to Billie Holiday a straight-ahead remake of songs associated with Lady Day. But the danger of straying too far from these well-known melodies is that these contemporary arrangements end up sounding both overblown yet bland. Unlike her Stevie Wonder tribute (Tales of Wonder), where Freelon's interpretations were too similar to Wonder's, she essentially discards the music to many of these songs, while substituting repetitious, often funky vamps that lessen the impact of these timeless songs. "God Bless the Child" begins with narration and is plagued by its dull funk setting. The overly dramatic rendition of "Strange Fruit" segues into a bizarre brisk treatment of "Willow Weep for Me" that mixes post-bop and Afro-Cuban influences. The playful spirit of "Them There Eyes" is gone, replaced by a monotonous contemporary scoring. Better are the slowly savored "You've Changed" and "Don't Explain." Freelon's own compositions stand on their own, which include "Only You Will Know" (a duet with guitarist Andre Bush) and the brief "Interlude-Little Brown Bird." Nnenna Freelon has long since proved herself as one of the best jazz vocalists of her generation, but this salute to Billie Holiday will likely be of limited appeal to many dedicated fans of Lady Day. by Ken Dryden  
Tracklist :
1     I Didn't Know What Time It Was 4:18
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers
2     What a Little Moonlight Can Do 5:13
Harry Woods
3     Don't Explain 4:03
Billie Holiday / Arthur Herzog, Jr.
4     God Bless the Child 5:21
Billie Holiday / Arthur Herzog, Jr.
5     Strange Fruit 2:20
6     Willow Weep For Me 2:52
Ann Ronell
7     Balm in Gilead 4:49
8     Them There Eves 5:09
Maceo Pinkard / Doris Tauber / William Tracey
9     Only You Will Know 3:41
Nnenna Freelon / Brandon McCune
10     You've Changed 5:24
Bill Carey / Carl Fischer
11     Now or Never 2:55
Billie Holiday
12     Lover Man 4:14
Ram Ramirez / James Sherman
13     Left Alone 5:02
Billie Holiday / Mal Waldron
14     Little Brown Bird (Interlude) 1:32
Nnenna Freelon / Brandon McCune
15     All of Me 5:53
Gerald Marks / Seymour Simons
Credits :
Wayne Batchelor - Acoustic Bass Guitar, Arranger, Bass (Acoustic), Main Personnel
Kinah Boto - Drums, Main Personnel
Beverly Botsford - Arranger, Main Personnel, Percussion
André Bush - Guitar
John Clayton -     Horn Arrangements
Mary Fettig - Flute (Alto), Rhythm Arrangements, Sax (Alto), Sax (Baritone)
Nnenna Freelon - Arranger, Audio Production, Composer, Main Personnel, Producer, Vocals
Jessica Ivry - Cello
Julian Lage - Guitar
Doug Lawrence - Sax (Tenor)
Brandon McCune - Arranger, Composer, Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3, Main Personnel, Organ (Hammond), Piano, Trumpet
Christian Scott - Trumpet