1. Illustration:HenryWong
1. Le Fil – Camille
The best album ever to listen to before
sleeping. A breath of fresh air from
France. Calm and quiet, I bought this
CD in France.
2. Cher Mon Amoureux – Mondialito
Whispered singing by a Japanese
band that sing in French. I am not
sure what is truly acoustic when natural
sounds are added to the mix. Raindrops
and flowing water refresh me in this
annoying city.
3. Bad Romance – Lady Gaga
Its interesting arrangements make me
want to play this with my friends at
parties. I love to sing and dance to this
song and get focused.
4. Getting Over You – David Guetta & Chris
Wills ft. Fergie & LMFAO
David Guetta’s music makes me groove.I
Blue notes
SUNDAY MORNING POST AUGUST 8, 2010
Sight&Sound5
freshness to each of her
interpretations. The range of her
pitch is narrow but she has a way of
making a song her own.
Two of her choices here are
brave – Billie Holiday’s God Bless
the Child, and At Last, written by
Mack Gordon and Harry Warren,
but essentially owned by Etta James
since her epic 1960 interpretation.
Of the two, God Bless the Child
comes off better. Chamberland’s
intimate delivery has more in
common with Holiday’s quiet
intensity than James’ powerful but
more histrionic side.
Take Three
Chantal Chamberland has released
several albums in Canada, all
currently available from cdbaby.net
• The Other Woman (2008,
Governess Music): Nina Simone
inspires an album on which a full
horn section turns up the voltage
on Chamberland’s normally lower-
key nightclub delivery.
• Dripping Indigo (2005, Chantal
Chamberland): from Hoagy
Carmichael and Cole Porter to the
Bee Gees, Chamberland captures
the atmosphere of her nightclub
performances on this eclectic set.
• This is Our Time (2002, Chantal
Chamberland): Chamberland’s
debut, a small group recording on
which she demonstrates her ability
to find additional dimensions in
songs strongly associated with
other artists.
Jazz artists who sell a lot of CDs are
rare, and it is accordingly inevitable
that when one hits the big time and
becomes established, anybody who
remotely resembles them will be
hailed as “the new so and so”.
So it is with Diana Krall, and
Chantal Chamberland is one of the
victims of this pigeon-holing. This
seems particularly unjust given that
she appears to have little in
common with her fellow Canadian
chanteuse, other than a passport
and some shared repertoire.
Krall is first and foremost a
serious jazz pianist who turned out
to be more commercially viable as a
singer. Chamberland plays rhythm
guitar capably enough, but is a
singer who accompanies herself,
rather than an instrumental
virtuoso, and takes no solos.
However, there is some fine
playing on her latest album on
Evosound, Serendipity Street.
Chamberland’s husky, early-hours-
of-the-morning vocals intertwine
with some fine alto saxophone
work from Paul White, while
co-producer Bob Doidge supplies
some plaintive flugelhorn parts as
well as adding Gallic accordion
touches and occasional cello.
Chamberland’s guitar is
sympathetically backed by a piano
trio comprising John Kenyon at the
keyboard, Steve Pelletier on
acoustic bass and Dan Lockwood
on drums.
Serendipity Street is a well-
balanced set of 16 tunes. From the
pop repertoire we have Cyndi
Lauper’s Time After Time – which
has impeccable jazz credentials,
having been a staple of Miles Davis’
sets in the 1980s – and Janis Ian’s
At Seventeen.
Two songs Chamberland
composed herself, the opening It’s
You and Across the Room, and both
fit well with the rest of the material.
One inclusion that appears
eccentric is Willie Nelson’s Crazy,
but his music has considerable jazz
content, and Crazy, shorn of the
Nashvilleisms of his own and Patsy
Cline’s versions, emerges as the
late-night bluesy tune it always had
the potential to be.
Otherwise Chamberland sticks
with the standards, but brings a
Chantal Chamberland
Robin Lynam
My playlist
Kiara Tsui, assistant manager,
AModel Agency
miss the days when I was studying in
France with my friends and we listened to
his music.
5. Is There Any Other Solution? – Mavis
Fan
Mavis’ music is the best to play in the
office when you are angry with your boss.
It’s full of crazy thoughts and direct
expressions … and she helps me to
scream out those feelings.
(As told to David Wilson)
books include profiles of Chess
Records and Jewish gangsters)
decided to capture them in a
memorable March 2008 Vanity Fair
profile in which he likened the
“showman” to God. “He is jealous
like God too, and boastful,” Cohen
wrote. “No god before me, none
greater, I made this, I made that,
etc, etc.”
With comparisons like that, it’s
no surprise that it led to the pair
collaborating on a best-selling
memoir released in April titled When
I Stop Talking You’ll Know I’m Dead:
Useful Stories From a Persuasive
Man that is a combination of life
lessons and memoirs by
the master showman.
“I’ve acted in films
and been the subject
of many pieces, but
sitting down and
writing is new for me
and it’s been the
most fun
experience of my
life.”
Set amid the
moment he
realised showbiz
artists were human
(hint: it has something
to do with Betty Grable),
the fights with client John Denver (“I
don’t remember any other artist
firing me”), the efforts to make Led
Zeppelin seem taller using bizarre
methods and name dropping galore,
is one of many childhood lessons
that form the crux of Weintraub’s
chutzpah: an ordinary piece of
jewellery his father used to convince
buyers that he was carrying the rare,
valuable “Star of Ardaban”.
It’s where he learned about the
concept of “packaging”, which has
been one of the keys to his success.
“That certainly makes sense in the
film business,” he admits.
This seemingly endless reservoir
of larger-than-life showbiz tales
combined with a high amount of
enlightened self-realisations
convinced Vanity Fair editor
Graydon Carter that a book wasn’t
enough for Weintraub. There had to
be a documentary, set for release
this autumn. And before one even
has the chance to ask, Weintraub is
already off to the races. “George
Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon,
Julia Roberts, President Bush Snr,
Elliot Gould, Ellen Barkin, they’re all
in the film,” he says.
At a time when many would be
easing into retirement and feeling
content with such reflection,
Weintraub himself seems busier
than ever. “I’ll tell you how I look at
it,” he says when asked about how
the film industry of the1970s
compares with today. “I don’t. If I
looked at it for too long I wouldn’t
stay in it. I make different films than
the films today.”
A remake of Tarzan is in the
works (“with story and characters”,
he emphasises) and so is a much
talked-about biopic of his
flamboyant late friend, the pianist
and showman Liberace, which will
star Michael Douglas and Matt
Damon as his boyfriend.
“It’s a very interesting piece
about a man who was tortured his
whole life about his sexual
preference, and this won’t play well
in China,” Weintraub says with a
faint chuckle.
And no doubt driving him is his
own sense of mortality, which he
came to grips with during a near
fatal staph infection last year. With
his family at his bedside while a
rabbi gave him last rites, Weintraub
swears he had an out-of-body
experience.
“I literally died and came back,
and needless to say that changes
you,” he says during one of the few
moments when his voice noticeably
softens. “And that’s going to be the
first chapter in the sequel.”
I first stayed in
Beijing at the state
guest house in 1978 …
I remember running
in Tiananmen
Square. It was quite
different then
......................................................
Jerry Weintraub
Frank Sinatra (above): “He was my
idol. I think in my time he was the
greatest live performer I ever worked
with.”
John Denver: “He fired me one day
and we were very close. I was upset,
but at the same time I had Elvis,
Frank, Led Zeppelin, The Moody
Blues, so it’s not as if he left me on a
diving board. I don’t remember any
other artist firing me, but I talked to
him before he died and it was water
under the bridge.”
The Carpenters (below): Karen was
an angel and I lost her much too
young. It’s a stupid way to go and I’ve
seen it mostly in women. She was
very childlike and her favourite thing
was Disneyland. I miss her a lot.”
Bobby Fischer (left): He was nuts. He
was crazy. I’m not a chess player and I
think that was one of the reasons why
he was interested in me. He saw the
world, I think, as if it was a chess
piece.”
Running a film studio: “I’m a very
creative guy and when you’re a studio
head, you do things by committee. It’s
much more fun to create a film than
to talk to Bank Of America about what
we’re spending and talk to human
resources about a medical plan.”
Jerry Weintraub
reflects on …