Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen

Vocal superstars take on the late Leonard Cohen’s iconic songs along with virtuoso jazz accompaniment; a perfect album for the season of Halloween, All Souls, and All Saints; artists got to choose which of the canon to cover so there is a lot of heart and soul in these renditions. If you like them and don’t know Leonard Cohen, check out his albums in the KZSU library

FCC on Track 2 (“piss”); all other tracks are worth playing; favorite tracks *4, 9, 12

1–Steer Your Way (4:50)—Norah Jones sings a soft, intimate incantation with instrumentals to match

FCC! 2–Here It is (5:14)—Peter Gabriel eerily channels Cohen’s bass register; with heavy instrumental jazz overtones; “piss” appears about a quarter of the way in

3—Suzanne (4:35)—Gregory Porter leans on the lyrics, giving this storied song more heft than Judy Collin’s hit cover from the 1970’s

*4—Halleluja (6:21) —Sarah McLachlan uses her amazing voice to make this mega hit new

5—Avalanche (5:21) —Immanuel Wilkins uses heavy duty horn playing and riffs to cover this intense song; interesting but hard to know how it relates to Cohen’s words or even the original tune

6—Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye (4:21) — Luciana Souza’s rich voice adds depth to this elegy to lost love; the piano and horn add texture

7—Coming Back to You (3:42) —James Taylor channels Cohen’s bass; heartfelt, slow, cleanly articulated

8—You Want It Darker (5:05) — Iggy Pop takes this title song from Cohen’s last CD and gives it creaky voice and some other spooky vocal effects; but not Cohen’s weight; instrumentals add to the atmosphere

*9—If It Be Your Will (5:27) —Mavis Staples sings this as a tender ballad; lovely instrumental touches too.

10—Seems So Long Ago, Nancy (5:10) —David Gray’s voice with horns and drums and plucked strings under and over this tragic tale

11—Famous Blue Raincoat (5:59)—Nathaniel Rateliff gives a kind of minimalist interpretation of this elegaic song—the horns add the emotion

*12—Bird on a Wire (3:47) —Bill Frisell gives a beautiful instrumental rendition of this classic song