Title - Elles
Artist - Youn Sun Nah
For those unaware, Award-winning vocalist Youn Sun Nah is proud to announce her groundbreaking new album, Elles, arriving August 30th, 2024 via Warner Music Arts.
Long hailed for her style-blurring renditions of artists spanning Tom Waits and Jimi Hendrix to Marvin Gaye and Metallica, Elles sees Youn Sun Nah bringing her remarkable voice and unique perspective to a range of songs that have deeply fueled her own indescribable musical approach, all made famous by such iconic female artists as Björk, Sarah Vaughan, Grace Jones, Roberta Flack, Edith Piaf, Grace Slick, Maria João, and more.
Recorded in New York City alongside acclaimed pianist Jon Cowherd (Brian Blade, Cassandra Wilson, Lizz Wright) and producer/musician Tomek Miernowski, Elles spans a wide array of songs either written or performed by notable women artists, from soulful spirituals (“Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child”) and psychedelic milestones (“White Rabbit”) to long-overdue takes on “Feeling Good,” “My Funny Valentine,” “I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango)” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song” (the latter performed alone with a treasured music box).
Backed by Cowherd’s subtle yet inventive work on a variety of keyboards, Youn Sun Nah reimagines standards both old and new in typically captivating fashion, traversing gender and generation with precision, magic, and intimacy.
“I realized that the songs I’ve recorded over the years, most have been from male singers,” Youn Sun Nah says. “So this time I wanted to honor the female singers I’ve been admiring since a long time, the songs which move me and the voices that touch me.”
1. Feeling Good (3:24)
2. Cocoon (4:22)
3. I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango) (4:58)
4. My Funny Valentine (3:28)
5. White Rabbit (4:08)
6. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child (4:14)
7. Baltimore Oriole (2:36)
8. Coisas Da Terra (4:53)
9. La Foule (4:00)
10. Killing Me Softly with His Song (4:38)
Among contemporary jazz’s most admired vocalists, an international award-winning singer, songwriter, performer and more, Youn opens her new recording on the delicately-hued Feeling Good and the pure gossamer of Cocoon and then brings us the ethereally-strained I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango), the sheer elegance of My Funny Valentine and a rather graceful rendition of White Rabbit.
Along next is the all-embracing Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child and the delightfully jaunty Baltimore Oriole, and they are in turn followed by the scampering scat that drives Coisas Da Terra, the album rounding out on the French-sung delicacy La Foule, closing on the dulcet Killing Me Softly with His Song.
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