Title: With a Little Help from My Friends
Artist: Cloud, Suzanne
Label: CD Baby
Product Type: COMPACT DISCS
UPC: 739673102222
Genre: Jazz

SUZANNE CLOUD's 'With a Little Help from My Friends' has received glowing reviews from The VILLAGE VOICE: ('Suzanne Cloud prefers to focus our attention on her brain rather than her voice. On her original 'Below the Beltway,' she wittily juxtaposes the repetitious, singsong rhythms of political talkspeak with a jazz vocal and a funky backbeat'); JAZZTIMES: ('a vocalist I can listen to more than once, and she's a clever lyricist, too...I'm titillated by Suzanne Cloud's sardonic slant on silicon sillies who have 'Collagen Lips.' Suzanne Cloud's voice is the most amazing instrument of all'); the WASHINGTON CITY PAPER: ('one of jazz's best-kept secrets, a full-voiced, rhythmically assured singer'); JAZZ NEWS: ('inventiveness of intent and execution, vocal assuredness and insight...a one-of-a-kind album...may become a collector's item. There's nothing else quite like it'); CADENCE: ('How many times have Jazz and social commentary really intersected over the years? There's Shepp, Mingus, Max Roach's 'Freedom Now' Suite, Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra. It hasn't been done too often and certainly not recently. That alone could recommend this CD'); The NATION: ('a great CD...an eclectic mix of contemporary jazz and socially conscious lyrics'); ALL ABOUT JAZZ: ('an amalgamation of Philly's finest jazz players performing jazz classics and originals, with a healthy dose of funk, dissonance, biting satire, and moral outrage...the musicians throughout are top notch...the many highlights include the horn arrangements in the funky 'Talk Radio,' Gerald Veasley's bass playing on 'Watch the Skies,' and Jef Lee Johnson's always virtuosic, at times pianistic, and often Hendrix-esque guitar work...This is a unique album characterized by exceptional musicianship, a fondness for and mastery of contemporary and traditional jazz idioms, and honest expressions of serious concerns through humorous, yet sometimes painfully true, lyrics')... 'With a Little Help from My Friends' has now been re-released in a SPECIAL EDITION with three different tunes! Twenty-three of Philadelphia's finest musicians team up with vocalist/lyricist extraordinaire SUZANNE CLOUD for a satirical look at culture. This is JAZZ WITH AN ATTITUDE! Contains controversial material highly unusual for these conservative times, and three tunes not appearing on the original 1995 release. All proceeds from CD sales go to Jazz Bridge (see link on left), a nonprofit organization that helps jazz and blues musicians in crisis in the Philadelphia Metro area!

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