Dbk Works
2005
Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe (Live)
About This Album
There is something ultimately redemptive in hearing musicians playing live, where all protective gear in the studio is gone, where there is no mix to fix, where they are just standing in front of an audience, pouring it out, letting it come through them. Too often live recordings are not live at all, as the delicate and sometimes evident flaws that make a performer human are eliminated, erased, and sent into the dustbin of history, thus rendering both the performance inaccurate and the performer somehow less than what she or he is. In other words, the beauty is in the imperfections themselves. Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe by Patty Waters is a true live album. Recorded at a date in San Francisco in 2002, the album is a jazz tribute to Billie Holiday and includes 14 standards. Waters is accompanied by pianist Leonard Thompson and bassist Seward McCain. There is no resemblance to the fiery singer of "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair" here. This is the voice of a seasoned interpreter, a singer who despite her somewhat limited range (there's a rasp in the lower end of her voice and a thin, brittle-like quality in its timbre) has an uncanny phrasing ability, singing the lyric of a classic song straight and from the heart and getting at its sinew and marrow.
Track List (try tracks 3 and 4)

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