Eden Atwood - A Night in the Life

Enter Eden Atwood, who despite her youthful years, knows and reflects the tradition of the Great American Songbook as well as the legacy of great singers, from Billie to Shirley Horn. On this, apparently the last of her albums for Concord, she reveals a slightly rougher, world-weary timbre (a cold, perhaps?) than on her previous albums, but it's a quality that is not at all unbecoming--if anything, it enriches the expressiveness of her interpretation of these introspective ballads (the Eden of just 2 years previous would probably not have been up to a lyric like "Lost in the Stars"). At the same time, there are still several notes which, when combined with a closed vowel sound like the "schwa" phoneme, produce a forced falsetto quality in the mid-register. With coaching and practice, singers can get around most of these awkward spots (ask Sinatra, who first found, then maintained, the sound he wanted by employing Mabel Mercer's "artifice" to achieve Billie Holiday's "naturalness," not to mention classical vocal training from Robert Merrill, along with numerous laps at both the track and the pool to build up his breath reserves!).
Samuel Chell (Kenosha, WI United States), Amazon.com

Track Listings:
1. When the Sun Comes Out
2. I've Grown Accustomed to His Face
3. Willow Weep for Me
4. Folks Who Live on the Hill
5. If I Love Again
6. I Could Have Told You
7. Spring Can Really Hang You up the Most
8. Medley: Lost in the Stars/So Many Stars
9. You Taught My Heart to Sing
10. Why Did I Choose You?
11. Moon River

Personnel:
Eden Atwood, vocal
Jeremy Kahn, piano
Larry Kohut, bass
Joel Spencer, drums
Chris Potter, tenor sax

Recorded: April 8-10 & 20, 1996