Leavin' (album)
| Leavin' | ||||
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| Studio album by Natalie Cole | ||||
| Released | September 26, 2006 | |||
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| Length | 52:13 | |||
| Label | Verve Records | |||
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| Natalie Cole chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Leavin' | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
| BBC | favorable |
| News24 |
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Leavin' is the twentieth studio album by American recording artist Natalie Cole, released on September 26, 2006, by Verve Records. The album consists of ten cover versions of various R&B and pop songs and two original songs: "5 Minutes Away" and "Don't Say Goodnight (It's Time for Love)." It was the second of Cole's albums to be released by Verve Records, and her first album in four years, following Ask a Woman Who Knows (2002). Cole promoted the album as a return to her R&B roots, distancing herself from an identification as a jazz artist.
After its release, critics gave the album generally positive reviews, praising Cole's interpretations of the covered material, and comparing her favorably to contemporary R&B artists. The album had limited commercial success in the United States, peaking at number 97 on the Billboard 200. Internationally, the album charted in Germany and Switzerland. The album spawned one single – Cole's cover of Aretha Franklin's "Day Dreaming" – with an accompanying music video. She performed the song at the BET special An Evening of Stars: Tribute to Aretha Franklin. She embarked on a theatre tour in the fall of 2006 to support the album.
Co-executive producer David Munk said that the idea for the record started after his suggestion that Cole "return to her R&B roots by recording an intimate, classic soul CD with a small group of sidemen and simple production". Munk served as an executive producer for the album. He viewed the recording sessions in Atlanta as eclectic and described Cole's ambition: "[S]he shared with me her hope of making a country-soul record in Memphis; she also spoke of doing a piano-voice album and of recording in Spanish". In an interview with American Songwriter, Cole said the album "was born out of desperation" to record a pop/urban project rather than a jazz one. She sought to avoid being typecast as a jazz singer by returning to R&B and demanding more artistic control. By being an arranger on the album, she said the recording sessions reminded her of how she: "missed the freedom ... ad-libbing, you know, and being able to holler every now and then ... all of that energy". She initially looked for original songs to record for the album, but said "the songs being sent were pretty bad." An writer from Vibe said Cole's decision to create a covers album was a marketing strategy to breed "a connection between song and interpreter and between singer and audience" and appeal to "fans yearning for the good old days before they had to hire a sitter to go see a show". Cole later clarified she could not afford to record an album of original material, explaining "we're doing a contemporary urban record on a jazz budget".
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Wikipedia