Bridges

by

Dianne Reeves

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After more than a decade's worth of warm and organic jazz records that somehow seem perfect for an autumn day, how perfect that Dianne Reeves should appear on the cover of her latest record covered in leaves! And how wonderful that this far into her career she releases her most solid and satisfying work.

Reeves has never been known especially for turning other people's songs inside out (a la Cassandra Wilson), but her brilliant reworking of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" gets things off to a beautiful start. The ballads "I Remember" and "Goodbye" are subtle and eloquent pop; certainly the sort of material that adult contemporary stations will play to death if they have the foresight to discover them. And her reading of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" is as haunting a performance as you are likely to hear.

Dianne shakes things up a little in the second half of the disc; "Testify" layers both sung and spoken words simultaneously over an African- and jazz-inspired groove; the result is nothing short of hypnotic. Then there is "Mista," a simply perfect mixture of hip-hop, blues, and Bonnie Raitt-ish instrumentation. This song is a unique and rewarding venture for Reeves and hopefully it won't be her last.

The only less-than-shining moment is Dianne's reading of Joni Mitchell's "River," which would sound a lot better if Holly Cole hadn't done a darker, more gorgeous version just a couple of years earlier. And while Dianne's album "Art and Survival" was a braver and riskier release, "Bridges" is an immaculately-produced, brilliantly-arranged, and gorgeously-sung outing. Any fan of her warm vocal style can't ask for much more.