Featured Artist: Hope Waits
CD Title: Hope Waits
Year: 2007
Record Label: Radarproof Recordcorp
Style: Jazz Vocals
Musicians: Hope Waits (vocals, guitar, track 3),Peter Malick (producer,engineer,guitars), Butch Norton (drums, percussion, associate producer), Jeff Turmes (bass, string bass, guitar, track 10), Marty Ballou (string bass, track 11), Jon Ossman (string bass, fretless bass, track 3), Phil Parlapiano (piano, Hammond B3, accordion), Marco Godoy (engineer, capriorgan, track 5, piano, keys, track 8), David Woodford (baritone, tenor sax, tracks 1,4,7,9; horn arrangements, tracks 1,7), Lee Thornberg (trumpet, trombone, tracks 1,4,7), Dave Marsh (clarinet, tracks 4,6), Ducky Carlisle (doo-wop, track 2, snare-kick, track 10)
Review: At first listen, it is inevitable that singer-songwriter Hope Waits’ self-titled, jazz-vocal debut CD will collect comparisons in both style and in voice to the likes of Billie Holiday and Bonnie Raitt. Nothing wrong with that-—but listen again, for Waits has a cadence all her own. She soulfully sashays through both the classics and through original blues/jazz compositions—confidently crooning the Gordy/Gordy/Carlo classic, “I’ll Be Satisfied,” then segueing into a no-nonsense, throbbing vocal on producer/guitarist Peter Malick’s original, “You Crossed the Line,” with a beat that closes eyes and rocks heads back and forth. Waits’ cover of Bob Dylan’s “Ring Them Bells” is especially compelling, lingering and simply beautifully sung.
But it’s the three tracks Waits co-wrote with Malick: “Fortune Teller,” “The Ballad of Judith Anne,” and “Ignatius,” that give a hint of Waits’ essence; her dirt-poor Louisiana roots, her troubled parents and her early days as a singer in a Southern Baptist choir. These three tracks are earnest, breathy and rousing all at once. “Ignatius” is especially lovely; Waits’ voice is lilting, hinting of past pain, but her lyrics are resolute, demanding transformation; a perfect finale to a fine premier disc that puts Waits in a league all her own. Beautiful.
Tracks: I'll Be Satisfied, You Crossed the Line, Fortune Teller, Yesterdays, Get Behind the Mule, Ring Them Bells, Drown in My Own Tears, The Ballad of Judith Anne, Cigarettes and Coffee, Mother-in-Law Blues, Come Rain or Shine, Ignatius
Record Label Website: http://Radarproof.com
Artist's Website: http://Hopewaits.com
Reviewed by: Lois DeSocio
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