Abandoned Garden
| Abandoned Garden | ||||
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| File:Michael Franks Abandoned Garden CD.jpg | ||||
| Studio album by Michael Franks | ||||
| Released | 1995 | |||
| Genre | Smooth jazz Vocal jazz |
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| Length | 57:02 | |||
| Language | English | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. Records | |||
| Producer | Matt Pierson Gil Goldstein |
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| Michael Franks chronology | ||||
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Abandoned Garden is a smooth vocal jazz album by American singer-songwriter and musician Michael Franks. Released in 1995 with Warner Bros. Records, it was Franks' thirteenth studio album.[1]
Contents
Background
The album is a dedication to the memory of Brazilian jazz musician, singer and composer Antônio Carlos Jobim. Franks had drawn artistic inspiration throughout his career from Jobim, and had collaborated with him in the past.[2]
"Somehow Our Love Survives" marked the return of keyboardist and lyricist Joe Sample, with whom Franks had collaborated with on numerous albums previously, including Sleeping Gypsy in 1977 and Blue Pacific in 1990.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "This Must Be Paradise" | Michael Franks | 6:10 |
| 2. | "Like Water, Like Wind" | Franks | 5:19 |
| 3. | "A Fool's Errand" | Franks | 4:35 |
| 4. | "Hourglass" | Franks | 4:45 |
| 5. | "Cinema" | Franks, Antônio Carlos Jobim | 4:52 |
| 6. | "Eighteen Aprils" | Franks | 4:35 |
| 7. | "Somehow Our Love Survives" | Franks, Joe Sample | 5:00 |
| 8. | "Without Your Love" | Franks | 5:22 |
| 9. | "In The Yellow House" | Franks | 5:21 |
| 10. | "Bird Of Paradise" | Djavan, Franks, Max Frederico, Flávia Virgínia | 5:39 |
| 11. | "Abandoned Garden" | Franks | 5:24 |
Personnel
Musicians
- Michael Franks – vocals, guitar, banjo
- Brian Mitchell – vocals
- Jeff Mironov – guitar, acoustic guitar
- Chuck Loeb – guitar
- John Leventhal – electric guitar
- Diane Barere, Mark Orrin Shuman, Frederick Slotkin – cello
- Bob Mintzer – flute, alto flute
- Lawrence Feldman – alto flute
- Manolo Badrena – woodwinds, percussion
- Joshua Redman – soprano saxophone
- David Sanborn, Andy Snitzer – alto saxophone
- Michael Brecker – tenor saxophone
- Randy Brecker – flugelhorn
- Keith O'Quinn – trombone
- Eliane Elias, Russell Ferrante, Gil GoldsteinBob James, Carla Bley – piano
- Peter Erskine – drums, percussion
- Chris Parker, Lewis Nash – drums
- Don Alias, Bashiri Johnson – percussion
Support
- Jimmy Haslip, Michael Colina, Russell Ferrante – arrangement
- James Farber – audio mixer
- Ken Schles, Fredrick Nilsen – photography
- Recording at Bearsville Studios, Clinton, Make Believe Ballroom, Power Station, Sound on Sound
Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [3] |
| Down Beat | [4] |
Reaction to Abandoned Garden was mixed.
Writing for AllMusic, Ross Boissoneau praised the input of "heavy hitters", but lamented it was "neither Franks' best effort nor particularly evocative of the great Brazilian composer" the album was dedicated to. He concluded "while the revolving door of stars has served Franks well on other recordings, here they don't seem to add up to much."[3]
The jazz/blues Down Beat magazine rated the album "good" in their March 1996 issue, reporting it to be "a genuine keeper, a guilty pleasure. Somehow Franks, a song stylist more than a jazz vocalist, once again gets his way, singing his indelible melodies that before you know it are under your skin, into your veins and etched into your soul..."[4]
References
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- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Boissoneau, Ross. Abandoned Garden – Michael Franks at AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Bibliography
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External links
| Studio albums |
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| Independent albums |
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| Live albums | |
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| Notable producers |
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| See also | |
