Various Artists
Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen Norah Jones, Peter Gabriel, Gregory Porter, Iggy Pop, Mavis Staples et al (vocals), Immanuel Wilkins (saxophone), Bill Frisell (guitar), Greg Leisz (pedal steel guitar), Kevin Hays (piano), Larry Goldings (organ), Scott Colley (bass), Nate Smith (drums). Blue Note 4565995
The uproar surrounding Brill-building-songsmith-turned-performer Neil Sedaka’s Glasgow Jazz Festival appearance just over a decade ago reverberates to this day. Well, not really, but the point was that as a latter-day exponent of the tradition behind the Great American Songbook his inclusion actually made perfect sense. It would be absurd to deny the same status to Leonard Cohen, as demonstrated by this project masterminded by producer Larry Klein and released, tellingly, on one of the most respected of jazz labels. The concept sees a transgeneric clutch of ten singers and two instrumentalists (it’s actually hard to imagine such an album existing at all without Bill Frisell’s involvement as the leading occupant of the jazz/americana Venn diagram) interpreting a selection from the Cohen canon, with fascinating results. Some retain his lugubrious delivery, allowing the songs’ poetic language to do the heavy lifting, while others treat them as springboards for more inflected interpretations, but all are compelling in their different ways. Unique, unmissable and very welcome. ★★★★★