SUSANNAH MCCORKLE: SABIÁ [Re-up]

SUSANNAH MCCORKLE
Tive o privilégio e a desventura de ter sido amigo de Susannah. O privilégio foi o de tê-la acompanhado ao violão em algumas canjas no Algonguin - onde sempre se apresentava , na época em que residi em New York. Mais privilégio ainda, o de conversarmos exclusivamente em português, por exigência dela, que adorava o Brasil, a nossa música e o nosso idioma. A desventura foi saber, pelo jornal, de seu suicídio, atirando-se da varanda do seu apartamento em Manhattan. Em 2001 eu estava em NY a trabalho e apareci, de surpresa, no "Oak Room", onde ela estava se apresentando. Passamos a noite conversando, bebendo e nos divertindo. Depois tomamos um táxi e a deixei em casa. Foi a última vez que a vi. Vim a saber, depois, que Susannah jamais revelara aos seus amigos - até mesmo os mais íntimos - um lado triste, amargo e negro de sua biografia: sofria de depressão, desde o suicído do pai e de uma tia. Como agravante tivera câncer nos seios e que um deles fora extirpado. Fiquei devastado por longo tempo mas o tempo é o remédio para as dores da alma e minha vida seguiu seu rumo. Felizmente Susanna nos deixou alguns álbuns que perenizam sua arte, assim como muitos contos publicados, pois escrevia divinamente bem. R.I.P, my beloved Suzannah.
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SUSANNAH MCCORKLE
Susannah McCorkle (4 January 1946 – 19 May 2001) was an American jazz singer much admired for her direct, unadorned singing style and quiet intensity. McCorkle was born in Berkeley, California. She studied modern languages at the University of California, Berkeley. McCorkle began singing professionally after hearing recordings of Billie Holiday in Paris in the late 1960s. She nearly became an interpreter at the European Commission in Brussels, but moved instead to London in 1972 to pursue a career in singing. In the late 1970s, McCorkle returned to the United States and settled in New York City, where a five-month engagement at the Cookery in Greenwich Village brought her to wider public attention and elicited rave reviews from critics. During the 1980s, McCorkle continued to record; her maturing style and the darkening timbre of her voice greatly enhanced her performances. In the early 1990s, two of the albums McCorkle made for Concord Records, No More Blues and Sábia, were enormously successful and made her name known to the wider world. Thanks to her linguistic skills, McCorkle translated lyrics of Brazilian, French, and Italian songs, notably those for her Brazilian album Sabia. She had a special affinity for Bossa Nova and often cited Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Waters of March" as her personal favorite. McCorkle also had several short stories published and, in 1991, began work on her first novel. She published fiction in Mademoiselle, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and non-fiction in the New York Times Magazine and in American Heritage, including lengthy articles on Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith, Irving Berlin and Mae West. A survivor of breast cancer, McCorkle suffered for many years from depression and took her own life at age 55 by leaping off the balcony of her 16th-floor apartment on West 86th Street in Manhattan. She was alone in her home at the time. The police immediately entered her home after identifying her body and found no foul play. Suicide was ruled the cause of death. One year later, in a New York magazine tribute "Jazz Bird" by Gwenda Blair, published May 27, 2002; Blair wrote: "Onstage, singer Susannah McCorkle exuded a sultry self-confidence that won her lifelong fans. But in private, she fought depression so deep -- and so well
hidden -- that a year after her suicide, even some in her most intimate circle wonder how they missed the cries for help."
Haunted Heart, a biography of Susannah McCorkle written by Linda Dahl, was published in September 2006 by University of Michigan Press
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ALBUM REVIEW
Brazilian influence - unusual for Suzannah - superb Susannah's lovely, bluesy voice is heard in a slightly different setting to normal here, with a touch of the bossa nova. Reading otherreviewers, there is not enough bossa nova for fans of that music, but maybe that wasn't Susannah's intention. Susannah wanted to keep her loyal fans, while giving them something a little different. Perhaps the biggest difference is that she sometimes sings in foreign languages - the opening Tristeza begins in Portuguese then switches to Italian - but many of the songs are in English. I used to avoid foreign language recordings, but I learned the error of my ways - when you have a singer with an expressive voice, it doesn't really matter. If you play a record sung in English, do you listen to every word. No, of course not - at least not every time. Sometimes you play music as a background to whatever else you are doing. Some of the songs have been translated into English, although Susannah wrote new lyrics for one song (P'ra machucar meu coracao) because a direct translation would have been awkward. Writing new lyrics instead of translating originals is nothing new -it happened a lot in the sixties and probably before then.
(Source: http://www.cojito.de/produkt_susannah-mccorkle-sabia_858615.htm)
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MINHA OPINIÃO 
Neste álbum SUSANNAH MCCORKLE demonstra sua paixão pelo Brasil, pela bossa-nova, e especialmente por TOM JOBIM. Devem estar cantando e tocando juntos, no Paraiso...
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SUSANNAH MCCORKLE: SABIÁ
Label: Concord Jazz
year 1990

PERSONNEL
Susannah McCorkle - vocals
Scott Hamilton - tenor sax
Café - percusion
Dennis Irwin
Lee Musiker
Emily Remler - guitar
Duduka Fonseca - drums

TRACKS/FAIXAS
01 - Tristeza (Sadness, Please Go Away)
02 - Estate (Summer)
03 - Vivo Sonhando (Living on Dreams)
04 - Dilema (Dilemma)
05 - Sabia (Songbird)
06 - So Many Stars
07 - So Danço Samba (I Only Dance the Samba)
08 - Manhãa de Carnaval (Sunrise)
09 - Pra Machucar meu Coração (The Day we Said Goodbye)
10 - Travessia (Bridges)
11 - A Felicidade (Happiness)