Paula West’s “Temptation” was a word-of-mouth hit in 1997. Twenty-five years later, it’s still just about perfect, Nathan Heller writes.
I first heard the jazz singer Paula West’s début album, “Temptation,” not long after it came out, in 1997, and it gave me the conviction that adulthood might be an interesting place to live. I was barely thirteen, but the confidence with which West sang buoyed my own. Her style, precise and wistful, let in breezes from a mature world.
When “Temptation” was released, on a small label, in 1997, it sent a frisson through the jazz world. Formally, West sang in the straight-ahead acoustic club tradition, with an ensemble of drums, bass, and, in various arrangements, guitar, piano, saxophone, clarinet, and trumpet. But her style was unmistakable, and her repertoire was imaginative and sly.
The landscape of music recording, meanwhile, had changed. People stopped buying CDs, and then, in many cases, they stopped buying albums. Songs became like Robert Louis Stevenson’s toy boats, small floating pieces that were dispersed and scattered among the fast flow of streaming platforms. Tracks grew shorter and front-loaded ; it would be almost inconceivable for a new album to begin, as “Temptation” does, with a thirty-four-second heraldic solo on the toms.
My admiration for “Temptation,” though, has been unwaning all the while, and I want to put it on the record that the reasons aren’t purely nostalgic. The other day, over dinner, I put on “Temptation” again, and tried to listen with fresh ears. What I noticed was how literary it was—not in the canonic sense but in the methodological one: West worked, to an unusual degree, from the words on the page, and based her music on the meaning that they, rather than the notes, described.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Mugler Fall 1997 Couture CollectionMugler’s fall 1997 Les Chimères (“Mythical Creatures”) couture collection closed with a dress that has been described as one of the most expensive couture creations ever.
Read more »
Six International Formats To Watch In 2023: Balloon Artists, Wilderness Temptation And Country-Sized Obstacle CoursesIt’s been another year of format fun in television, with Banijay’s Dutch mystery competition series The Traitors emerging as a new global hit, especially in the UK on the BBC, while the…
Read more »
Christmas Day search for missing woman with Alzheimer's ends with sad discoveryThe overnight search for a missing woman with Alzheimer's ended at a Jacksonville high school Christmas Day. Paula Gerding, 82, was found dead.
Read more »
Woman attacks hubby at airport after finding ‘indecent’ images on his phone: copsA couple’s vacation to South Carolina was over before it began – when the woman was arrested for allegedly attacking her hubby at the airport when she found lewd images on his phone. Paula Barbour,…
Read more »
Happy New Year on Mars! NASA rings in Red Planet year 37Mars years last twice as long as Earth years, and use a different numbering system.
Read more »
'Blue's Clues' Steve Burns Has Reunion with Make-A-Wish Patient 22 Years LaterSteve Burns from 'Blue's Clues' had a reunion with a cancer survivor he met 22 years ago as part of the Make-A-Wish foundation.
Read more »