Pippi Ardennia - Love so Good2 (2013)

Tracklist

01. Love so Good
02. Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head
03. Here's to Life
04. Prelude to a Kiss
05. Midnight at the Oasis
06. Something
07. My Favorite Things
08. Blue Moon
09. Tiny Dancer
10. Here Comes the Sun
11. Modern Day Blues
12. Prelude to a Kiss (Fun)

From the first track, you start to wonder, Anita Baker? Roberta Flack? Etta James? A shade of Aretha and a little Billie on the side? One look at this set list and you know you are in for a wildly joyous ride: From Burt Bacharach to Billy Strayhorn, from Rodgers & Hart to the Beatles, from Elton John to Rodgers & Hammerstein, from Shirley Horn to Maria Muldaur, the covers are as diverse as Pippi herself. And she also draws on her own creative resources for the sweetly engaging title track (written with Kenny Campbell) and the down and not quite dirty "Modern Day Blues", co-written with her remarkable PipJazz Experience band (Billy and Ricky Peterson, Peter Schimke, Glenn Swanson and more) and business partner Jack Scheetz. It's hard to single out one gemstone from a bagful of diamonds --a "Here's to Life" with the power of Shirley Horn and a touch of sass that is pure Pippi; a samba spin on "Midnight at the Oasis" that underscores Pippi's unerring sense of time; the stunning duet with bassist Billy Peterson that opens "Blue Moon." And then there's her elegant pairing with guest guitarist Paul Bollenback on "Prelude to a Kiss" that she reprises as a swinging "symphony" with just pianist Mary Louise Knutson on the final track. Pick any tune here -- Pippi exudes a commanding musical presence as readily in the studio as on the live stage, with that storyteller's art that can turn the most benign lyric into a Shakespearian masterpiece. Songs so good, performed so well, Pippi and her band "make you want to sang."

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