Comments for Cole, Holly, It Happened One Night

An exceptional live "EP" from Canadian jazz chanteuse Holly Cole. The concert took place June 28, 1995 at the St. Denis Theatre in Montreal, and apparently it was quite an evening. The other two thirds of her trio, pianist Aaron Davis and bassist Dvaid Piltch were backed by drummer Dougie Browne and the fine guitarist Kevin Breit. Together they served up stellar renditions of some of Holly`s best-known tunes: there`s a fun, spirited "Cry (If You Want To)," a movingly beautiful cover of Everything But the Girl`s "Don`t Let the Teardrops Rust Your Shining Heart," and a cooly swinging "Get Out of Town." "Train Song," a fine tune from her album of Tom Waits covers, "Temptation," is performed to the height of laid-back cool jazz, and she offers up a stellar rendition of Stephen Sondheim`s "Losing My Mind," creating a modern jazz/adult contemporary classic in the process. A surprisingly bluesy "Que Sera Sera" is a treat, and only "Tango `Til They`re Sore," another song from the Tom Waits disc, falls a hair short: the tune isn`t exactly memorable, and Holly has given more moving and emotional performances. But the disc closes out with a gem: an absolutely perfect rendition of "Calling You," a lovely ballad that was a #1 single in Japan when it was first released on her "Blame it on My Youth" CD. And to be honest, this version is much more poignant and emotional. The tune brings "It Happened one Night" to a dignified and dramatic close. Of course, the actual concert was much longer, but even though this is termed an "EP," it wasn`t all that long ago that eight songs and forty minutes constituted an entire release by artists such as, say, Anita Baker ("Rapture" was of almost exactly the same length) so you don`t feel shorted in any way. The set as presented is tight and extremely well-performed, and the disc is a delight from start to finish. Also pleasant is the multimedia material enclosed...you can view segments of the concert (in fact, segments of songs that aren`t included on the disc, which makes a nice teaser) and also find out about Holly`s musical background and life on the road as well as view the video for "Calling You." Not bad for an $11.98 CD. Of course, it all makes you wish the concert could be released on video or laserdisc as to experience the whole glorious event, but "It Happened one Night" is at least a perfect souveneir.