''Blue Skies'' is the third studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson. It was released on the JMT label in 1988 and features Wilson performing ten

jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive lis ...

s accompanied by Mulgrew Miller on piano, Terri Lyne Carrington on drums, and Lonnie Plaxico on bass.

Background

The album is named after the Irving Berlin's 1926 song and includes 10 renderings of famous

s. Wilson explained: "I enjoy doing standards, and I did the album as a special project. However, that is not my direction in fact. I think it's important for us to develop new standards and to recreate the music of today inside of a new context. This is a different time and somebody's going to do that."

Reception

In a review for Allmusic, Thom Jurek gave the album three stars out of five and noted that it was evidence of Wilson's move away from the M-Base style of her previous albums. He said that the album was "Not a masterpiece, but a really compelling first experiment with the more intimate forms and smaller groups Wilson would employ later on." He praised her versions of " I Didn't Know What Time It Was" and " Sweet Lorraine".

Track listing

# " Shall We Dance?" ( Rodgers and Hammerstein) – 7:21 # " Polka Dots and Moonbeams" ( Johnny Burke,

Jimmy Van Heusen James Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock; January 26, 1913 – February 6, 1990) was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Life and care ...

) – 5:46 # " I've Grown Accustomed to His Face" ( Lerner and Loewe) – 5:15 # " I Didn't Know What Time It Was" ( Rodgers and Hart) – 4:51 # " Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You" (

Andy Razaf Andy Razaf (born Andriamanantena Paul Razafinkarefo; December 16, 1895 – February 3, 1973) was an American poet, composer and lyricist of such well-known songs as " Ain't Misbehavin'" and " Honeysuckle Rose". Biography Razaf was born in Washi ...

, Don Redman) – 5:04 # "

I'm Old Fashioned "I'm Old Fashioned" is a 1942 song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics written by Johnny Mercer. It was written for the film ''You Were Never Lovelier'' (1942), where it was introduced by Nan Wynn who dubbed for Rita Hayworth as part of a song ...

" ( Jerome Kern,

Johnny Mercer John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallich ...

) – 3:07 # " Sweet Lorraine" ( Cliff Burwell, Mitchell Parish) – 5:31 # " My One and Only Love" ( Robert Mellin, Guy Wood) – 6:02 # "Autumn Nocturne" (

Kim Gannon James Kimball "Kim" Gannon (November 18, 1900 – April 29, 1974) was an American songwriter, more commonly a lyricist than a composer. Biography Gannon was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Irish-American family from Fort Ann in upstate New ...

, Josef Myrow) – 5:01 # " Blue Skies" ( Irving Berlin) – 3:07

Personnel

Band * Cassandra Wilson – vocals * Mulgrew Miller – piano * Lonnie Plaxico – bass * Terri Lyne Carrington – drums Production notes *Stefan F. Winter – producer *Hiroshi Itsuno – executive producer *Joe Ferla – engineer *Angela Gomez – assistant engineer *Adrian von Ripka – mastering *Steve Byram – cover design *Günter Mattei – cover design

Chart positions

References

{{Authority control 1988 albums Cassandra Wilson albums JMT Records albums