Leonard Cohen's musical career began in the 1960s as a singer and songwriter who, as the so-called "poet of erotic despair," was widely considered to be so dour it was off-putting. By the time Cohen passed in 2016, he was a beloved artist who sold out large venues around the world, while his song "Hallelujah" became an unlikely standard. While there's no arguing that Cohen's style (and its presentation) became significantly more approachable in the 1980s and '90s, the re-evaluation of his music still seems surprising when ...
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Leonard Cohen's musical career began in the 1960s as a singer and songwriter who, as the so-called "poet of erotic despair," was widely considered to be so dour it was off-putting. By the time Cohen passed in 2016, he was a beloved artist who sold out large venues around the world, while his song "Hallelujah" became an unlikely standard. While there's no arguing that Cohen's style (and its presentation) became significantly more approachable in the 1980s and '90s, the re-evaluation of his music still seems surprising when examining the full arc of his career, and it's hard to imagine that the man who made 1971's Songs of Love and Hate and 1974's New Skin for the Old Ceremony would inspire an album like 2022's Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen. The album was coordinated by producer Larry Klein, who was a friend of the great songwriter, and he assembled a stellar band of jazz artists - Bill Frisell on guitar, Immanuel Wilkins on sax, Kevin Hays on piano, Scott Colley on bass, and Nate Smith on drums -- to back ten different singers interpreting Cohen's songs. Klein's approach gives Here It Is a coherent, unified sound that feels like an album rather than a collection of stray tracks. The players are all in superb form, and Wilkins and Frisell each lead an instrumental performance, pointing to Cohen's gift for writing melodies and not just words. With the exception of Iggy Pop, whose gritty, weathered voice brings out all of the sinister undercurrents in "You Want It Darker," the singers on Here It Is have contributed to honor the beauty of Cohen's music rather than the more challenging aspects; the most unforgiving of Cohen's songs, "Avalanche," appears here as an instrumental led by Wilkins, who honors its spirit though the letter is absent. Different fans of Leonard Cohen's work will have different opinions about the tone of Here It Is and its focus on one facet of his songbook at the expense of others. But there's no arguing the best performances here are wonderful and show off a keen understanding of these songs and what makes them work, especially Mavis Staples' yearning "If It Be Your Will," Luciana Souza's sweetly mournful "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye," and Gregory Porter's cool but deeply felt reading of "Suzanne." Even the lesser performances (most notably Peter Gabriel's "Here It Is," where he tries so hard to sound like Cohen that it's hard to tell who he is) show these artists know these are great songs, and they approach them with care and obvious admiration. Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen doesn't tell us all that's worth knowing about Cohen's music, and in all fairness that's clearly not his goal. Here, Larry Klein and his collaborators explore the light that seeps in through the cracks, and what it reflects is splendidly crafted and a heartfelt homage to a singular talent. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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