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New Moon Daughter

New Moon Daughter
Newmoondau.jpg
Studio album by Cassandra Wilson
Released 1995
Recorded The Turtle Creek Barn, Bearsville, NY and
Sound On Sound, New York City
Genre jazz, blues
Length 61:26
Label Blue Note
Producer Craig Street
Cassandra Wilson chronology
Blue Light 'Til Dawn
(1993)
New Moon Daughter
(1995)
Traveling Miles
(1999)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4.5/5 stars
Down Beat 5/5 stars
Encyclopedia of Popular Music 4/5 stars
Entertainment Weekly A–
Los Angeles Times 3.5/4 stars
MusicHound Jazz 4/5
The Penguin Guide to Jazz 3/4 stars
Rolling Stone 4/5 stars
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 4.5/5 stars
The Village Voice B–

New Moon Daughter is a studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, released in 1995 on Blue Note. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart in 1996.

A reviewer for Gramophone was generally positive about the album, praising Wilson's voice and her interpretations of the standards included. However, they said that compared to the originals, Wilson's versions may not be as powerful. They noted that with this album, Wilson appears to move away "from jazz heartlands or cutting edges and towards the embrace of 'pop cult' status." The reviewer particularly enjoyed "Skylark" (calling it "sublime") and "Last Train to Clarksville" ("a delight").

Rolling Stone's Geoffrey Himes reviewed the album positively. He noted its similarity to Wilson's previous album, Blue Light 'Til Dawn, but said that New Moon Daughter has more feeling and a darker tone. He said that Wilson makes Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" "her own". He noted the album's overall slow tempo as a weakness, wishing for a little more rhythmic diversity.Scott Yanow of Allmusic described Wilson's voice on the album as "quite bored and emotionally detached" but noted that she was "stretching herself".

Village Voice critic Robert Christgau was less impressed, writing that "most of these songs escape her attentions without a mark on them. Which isn't to mention the 'Strange Fruit' that establishes the surpassing weirdness of Billie's original, or the disastrous Monkees cover, designed to prove [Wilson] has a sense of humor I'm now convinced isn't there."


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