The Song Lives on

Joe Sample, Lalah Hathaway - The Song Lives on

The Song Lives on
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Music CD Cover

Artist: Joe Sample, Lalah Hathaway
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1999-04-20
Music Label: Grp Records
Soundtracks:
  1. The Song Lives On
  2. Fever
  3. Come Along with Me
  4. Living in Blue
  5. Street Life
  6. When Your Life Was Low
  7. One Day I'll Fly Away
  8. When the World Turns Blue
  9. For All We Know
  10. Bitter Sweet
  11. A Long Way from Home

Free Music Notes for The Song Lives on

Free Music Review: Who says they don't make 'em like they used to?
Hit: 5 Stars

Jazz will always have innovators to be thankful for: Cassandra Wilson, Dianne Reeves, Holly Cole...artists that bridge genres and manage to enhance, not disorient, the jazz field. But what about classic jazz sets? Ask yourself to think of a truly original, sprited album of true jazz that was recorded in the past ten years and you'll most likely have to say, "Give me a minute..." Natalie Cole's "Take a Look," maybe? Diana Krall's "Love Scenes"? Enter Joe Sample and Lalah Hathaway's "The Song Lives On." Boasting the unbeatable elements of stellar musicianship, intoxicating vocals and impeccable taste in material, "The Song Lives On" manages to both hang as loosely and sound as classic as Sarah Vaughan's self-titled effort with Clifford Brown.

The album only contains two standards in the traditional sense of the term, and they both shine: Peggy Lee's "Fever" is the sort of song that never grows old, and Lalah offers an appropriately steamy rendition that stands well next to the distinguished versions the song has had over the years. Then there's "For All We Know," a showcase that will leave no doubt that Ms. Hathaway was born to sing jazz. In fact, her work on the project is what carries the album from the realm of promising to the status of Listening Treasure...five years after her last solo project, hearing her smoky, one-of-a-kind voice return to a well-deserved spotlight is like opening a window after a long Winter and finding a warm, refreshing Spring.

Even the more recent compositions on the record possess the same classic jazz spirit as its classics; "Come Along With Me" and the Bossa Nova-flavored "One Day I'll Fly Away," for all their haunting melodies and touching lyrics, have the capacity for becoming modern standards. Also striking is a reworking of "Street Life," a classic in its own right from Sample's days with the Crusaders, here presented in a laid-back, jam-session form that can be only created by skilled and adventurous artists feeding off each other's best elements.

The instrumentals are a treat as well, the title track and the gently swinging "Living in Blue" being the best. The only possible complaint is the sequencing; "For All We Know" would have made a perfect album-closer, and it's a little frustrating to end with two instrumentals and have Lalah's charm and personality suddenly drop out of the tail end of the record. But such a protest is petty; in an era when music is overridden with trends and even jazz isn't safe from sell-outs, we owe Joe Sample and Lalah Hathaway a considerable debt for making sure that when it comes to jazz, the song lives on.

The Song Lives on Poster

"When Your Life Was Low," one of this album's four writing collaborations between former Crusaders keyboardist Joe Sample and pop's hack-for-hire Will Jennings, is typical of this CD's low aim and artistic laziness. The vague expression of friendship in "Life," voiced listlessly by the technically adept but boring Lalah Hathaway, is perfect for the office-ready smooth-jazz radio format and little else. Hathaway's appearances on 7 of The Song Lives On's 11 cuts are a blessing only in that they break up the monotony of Sample's in-one-ear-and-out-the-other noodlings; her extremely unnecessary version of "Fever" and a dull-edged remake of the Crusaders/Randy Crawford classic "Street Life" are résumé fodder and little else. --Rickey Wright

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