Patty Waters Love Songs CD

Personnel: Patty Waters (vocals); Patty Waters; Jessica Williams (piano, synthesizer).
Liner Note Author: Scott Yanow .
Recording information: Quanta Studios, CA (01/1996).
Photographers: Elaine Arc; Will Wallace.
In 1965, at the height of the free jazz movement, the avant-garde vocalist Patty Waters recorded her seminal PATTY WATERS SINGS for the ESP label, notable for its hair-raising 11-minute tour-de-force, "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair." After the follow-up, 1966's COLLEGE TOUR, Ms. Waters effectively retired from public performance for nearly three decades.
What makes Waters's 1997 vocals-piano "comeback" LOVE SONGS doubly fascinating is that after all the notoriety, this is wholly a traditional set of Billie Holiday-like standards. Accompanied by the fine contemporary pianist, Jessica Williams, Waters takes on some of the most revered jazz tunes in the canon: "My Foolish Heart," "Someone To Watch Over Me," Holiday's "Don't Explain" and "Fine and Mellow," among others. Though they're sung relatively straight, the singer's hushed emotiveness is still very much in evidence and, as this satisfying set unfolds, one is reminded how much Patty Waters was in the jazz tradition all along. Though she took it to extremes on her debut, the prodigal daughter has now come home.
Patty Waters' first recording in 30 years finds the former avant-garde singer sounding older, with a smaller range and a weaker voice, but still showing a great deal of honest emotion and intensity. Accompanied by the great pianist Jessica Williams (who effectively emulates a full band on her synth during "Mood Indigo"), Waters explores 11 standards, including two haunting versions of "Don't Explain." Most of her renditions are fairly straightforward, although quite eerie, and on "Nature Boy" she hints strongly at her past freer days. Other highlights include "I've Got a Crush On You," "Someone to Watch Over You," "Mean to Me," and the only song taken above a ballad pace, "Fine and Mellow." ~ Scott Yanow