Music » Cabaret Music

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Audio CD, Prime Cuts

There's a lot to like on Paris Combo's Attraction, the postmodern Parisian cabaret quintet's third album. As with previous efforts, the band updates the French chanson and gypsy swing tradition by adding a stylish hipster element that could be construed as French lounge music, but most of the arrangements for the album's 13 original tunes display a developing maturity that avoids gimmickry in favor of solid musicianship. Guitarist Potzi and trumpeter-pianist David Lewis in particular shine as tasteful soloists. Chanteuse Belle du Berry is convincing as well, sensually wrapping her voice around the French lyrics to project meaning even if you don't speak a lick of the language. Attraction also benefits from modern production touches and guest musicians, both of which add a lush new layer to the music that only enhances the band's depth and class. Leaving the winking self-awareness behind, Paris Combo has grown into a topnotch but still fun cabaret act. --Tad Hendrickson

Release Date: 2002-05-21, Audio CD, Pearl

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Release Date: 2002-09-24, Audio CD, Audiophile

Christine Andreas's Here's to the Ladies is even more wonderful than her solo debut, Love Is Good. Following that collection of classy pop standards, Andreas digs further into her Broadway background by paying homage to some of the legends who influenced her. But before you say, "Oh, another tribute album," listen to her sexy "Moonshine Lullaby" or her "Some People" (both from Ethel Merman), and she'll make you forget that you've heard it umpteen times before. Her Mary Martin selections are as diverse as "I'm Flying," "A Wonderful Guy," and "My Heart Belongs to Daddy." The wide range of inspirations--from Helen Morgan ("Bill") to Barbra Streisand ("Don't Rain on My Parade," "The Music That Makes Me Dance"), Angela Lansbury ("If He Walked into My Life"), and Barbara Cook ("Will He Like Me?" rather than the expected "Ice Cream" or "Glitter and Be Gay")--provides even more freshness. From belters to ballads, Andreas, producer Martin Silvestri, and a great cast of orchestrators have mined another gem. --David Horiuchi

The Greek Chanteuse Takes Adds to her Spanish Repetoire with Boleros and Songs Sung En Espanol.

The deliciously indefinable music of SoulSkin has been referred to as Cinematic Blues -- a rare and surprising blend of the sweeping and the simple, the old and the new, the earthbound and the esoteric -- a journey across the American musical terrain, by turns visceral, charming, haunting, and infectious, and all the while decidedly askew.

The songs of Tom Waits, Hoagy Carmichael, Bettye Jean Crutcher, Randy Newman, and others are interwoven with the group's own strange and wonderful studio improvisations. Eschewing the traditional bombast of the guitar-and-drums battery, SoulSkin, with only viola, soprano sax, keyboards, and double bass, draws its strength from the scope of its arrangements, the unerring taste of its musicianship, and the utterly startling power of diminutive vocalist Karen Kraft.

From the stunning romanticism of "Ruby" to the social conscience of "Drown Yourself," from the brooding mystery of "Pathos Bill" to their deconstruction of the depression-era daydream "Bread and Gravy," from the striking character sketch of "Shining" to the pure joy of "Concrete and Clay" -- this is the sound that musicians can only make when in a state of focused thrill. Experience the Cinematic Blues -- and the thrill -- of SoulSkin.

Release Date: 2003-04-09, Audio CD, Bescol