Paris in Ruins

A Very Historic Recording!Ute Lemper tells us Marlene Dietrich's story, along with singing her fabulous songs!This album is based on a 3 hour phone call and exchange between Marlene Dietrich and Ute in 1988 in Paris, 30 years ago. After receiving the French Moliére Award for her performance in Cabaret in Paris, Ute had sent a postcard to Marlene, who had lived at 12 Avenue de Montaigne since 1979, essentially apologizing for all the media attention comparing her to Marlene Dietrich. Ute was just at the beginning of her career in theater and music, whereas Marlene looked back on a long, fulfilled life of movies, music, incredible collaborations, love stories and stardom.What a secret gift to hear Marlene talk about her life, her work and style, her love for the poet Rilke, her complicated relationship with Germany, her sorrow and her fascinations.Six days before Ute's opening night playing the part of Lola in the 1992 Blue Angel production in Berlin - the role that had made Marlene a star in 1928 - Marlene Dietrich passed away in Paris. After her glamorous funeral in La Madeleine, Marlene finally came back to Berlin to be put to rest.Ute tells us Marlene's story, along with singing her fabulous songs from all the chapters of her life, from the Berlin cabaret years to her fabulous Burt Bacharach collaborations.Ms. Lemper lives in New York with her four children, Max, Stella, Julian and Jonas.

The career of Polish composer Alexandre Tansman flourished in Paris after the First World War, though it’s only in recent years that it has begun to be explored in depth in recordings. A refined but spiritually engaged neo-Classicism remained a constant feature of his music-making in Europe and in his temporary American exile, whether in the beautifully evocative travelogue Visit to Israel or in the clarity of the Interludes and Caprices.

The career of Polish composer Alexandre Tansman flourished in Paris after the First World War, though its only in recent years that it has begun to be explored in depth on disc. A refined but spiritually engaged neo-Classicism remained a constant feature of his musicmaking in Europe and in his temporary American exile, whether in the beautifully evocative travelogue Visit to Israel or in the clarity of the Interludes and Caprices.

Beautiful Scars was more than worth the wait. The album's cast, is, as usual, full of all-stars: Steve Swallow, Robby Ameen, Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, Milton Cardona, Fernando Saunders, Ron Blake, Alfredo Triff, Yosvany Terry Cabrera, Dafnis Prieto, Pedro Martinez, Bryan Carrott, and himself of course. His guest vocalists are an amazing, unlikely batch who work together in many ways: Ross, Xiomara Laugart, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Leijia Hanrahan, Lindsay Marcus. Some friends help out in various places: Billy Bang, Anthony Cox, Richie Flores, Mario Rivera, and the great guitarist Leo Nocentelli. The music is, for lack of a better word "Exotic": here, jazz meets many Latin rhythms, meets organic breakbeats and folk musics from all over the world in this heady stew of lyrics born of raw eros, politics, spirituality, and art-poetry.