Natalie Cole – “Ask a Woman Who Knows”
I have been enjoying Natalie Cole’s first release on Verve Records, “Ask A Woman Who Knows.” Re-united with producer Tommy LiPuma, Natalie truly shines on these 12 songs. My favorite song is her remake of Michael Franks’, “Tell Me About It”. This is the first song released from the album and she makes it her own and even features “The Colettes”, her own background vocals.
Other songs included are “The Music That Makes Me Dance”, Esther Phillips’ “I Haven’t Got Anything Better to Do”, “It’s Crazy”, the title-track, “Ask a Woman Who Knows”, and a swinging remake of Nina Simone’s “My Baby Just Cares for Me” with the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra. There is also a duet on “Better Than Anything” with label mate, Diana Krall. You can tell through her choice of songs that she really enjoyed making this recording and that she really put her heart and soul into each song. Each song is very personal. She is backed by a stellar cast of musicians including Joe Sample, Alan Broadbent, Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove, and The Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra.
I recently saw her performing on “Larry King Live” and “Oprah.” Natalie looks great and sounds wonderful. This is definitely an album for a romantic evening or just a quiet evening of reflection. Read more about Natalie and listen to clips from her new album on the Verve Music website or go her personal site, www.nataliecole.com.
Go Natalie!!! She sang the “Star Spangled Banner” for the opening of the 4th game of the World Series. She sounded great and was backed by a heavenly choir.
I agree James not only do Natalie sounds terrific, she look great. I saw her on Oprah and I cannot get that song “Tell Me About It” out of my head. It is a great song. It is one of those songs that you listen to while you at home reading a book and sipping tea. Natalie Cole is like the Master card commercial “priceless”.
I love this website! Keep up the good work. Yvette
It is great to see great things being done by great people about great people.
What a wonderful site. Great job James. Very informative.
Darryl “DR”
I trust your judgement on NC’s CD. She has a very distinct voice and a valuable cache of musicians behind her.
However, I love Ledisi. I saw perform at Yoshi’s two years ago. She was so phenomenal!! She ended up doing 2 encore songs because we begged her to. I can’t wait until she gets to the NC status. I actually think she’s has a little more depth than Badu, but who cares?
India.Arie~ Hands down!! One of the most talented sistas in the biz. She gave a live performance on BET’s 106 and park. To make it even better, I’m only two hours outside of her residence in Atl. Can’t wait to see her live.
I see you are still into your Natalie Cole. I’m sorry I missed her singing for the World Series. Hopefully they’ve got it on CD. Great commentary.