New Moon Daughter

1	Strange Fruit 5:33
2	Love Is Blindness 4:53
3	Solomon Sang 5:56
4	Death Letter 4:12
5	Skylark 4:08
6	Find Him 4:37
7	I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry 4:50
8	Last Train to Clarksville 5:15
9	Until 6:29
10	A Little Warm Death 5:43
11	Memphis 5:04
12	Harvest Moon 5:01

Barnes & Noble

It's not every jazz recording that includes songs by U2, Hank Williams, Son House, and the Monkees, but Cassandra Wilson is no ordinary jazz singer. A southern-born chanteuse with solid chops and a habit of genre hopping, Wilson took a fearless leap with NEW MOON DAUGHTER, wrapping her smoky voice around material that -- at first glance -- hardly qualifies as jazz standards. So much for first impressions. Collaborating with the inventive producer Craig Street, Wilson embraces everything from the deep blues of Son House's "Death Letter" to the folk rock of Neil Young's "Harvest Moon," and winds up with some radical transformations. She turns the pure pop of The Monkees' "Last Train to Clarksville" into a bluesy reflection on romance. And her take on Billie Holiday's chilling standard "Strange Fruit" -- slow, filled with sparse, mysterious textures -- takes the song to eerie, haunting new places. Eclectic experiments and crossover attempts rarely sound this easy. Or this good. Steve Futterman

All Music Guide

Singer Cassandra Wilson, who has had a rather diverse career that has ranged from the free funk of M-Base to standards à la Betty Carter, has in recent times adopted a folk-oriented style a little reminiscent of Nina Simone. On New Moon Daughter her repertoire ranges from U2 to Son House, from Hoagy Carmichael to Hank Williams ("I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"); it is certainly the only album ever that contains both the Monkees' "Last Train to Clarksville" and "Strange Fruit." This CD is a surprise best-seller, for Wilson's voice actually sounds quite bored and emotionally detached. She deserves great credit for stretching herself, but one has to dig deep to find any warmth in her overly cool approach. Scott Yanow