The Police Every Breath You Take The Classics (1995){pocm 1990}

Classic rock and pop tracks with an orchestral twist! A Symphony of hits featuring Bohemian Rhapsody, Candle in the Wind, Stairway to Heaven, Let It Be, Handbags and Gladrags, Beautiful Day, Champagne Supernova, Good Vibrations, Layla, Nights in White Satin, Bittersweet Symphony, A Whiter Shade of Pale, Bat Out of Hell, Livin' on a Prayer, Yellow, Millennium…and more!

After beginning as a vocalist for numerous house music producers, Karen Souza participated in the successful series Jazz and 80’s and its successors. Now, Karen has launched her solo career with Essentials, a summary of her career as a jazz singer, where her unique and seductive voice draws you in. This album brings us recreations of classics such as Every Breath You Take (The Police), Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? (Culture Club), Creep (Radiohead) and Tainted Love (Soft Cell), which have become classics over the past few years. Essentials is a different album, where jazz appears at its most elegant, thanks to Karen´s amazing voice.

This project, interpretations of ten songs written by , would not seem to have much potential from a jazz standpoint. But by reharmonizing the tunes and contributing inventive charts for a notable group of jazz players, arranger Bob Belden put together a very memorable set, turning pop material into creative jazz. Belden (who takes a tenor solo on "Children's Crusade") allocated solo space to such players as guitarists John Scofield, John Hart and Fareed Haque, pianists Billy Childs, Benny Green, Joey Calderazzo, Marc Copland and Kevin Hays, trumpeter Tim Hagans, tenors Rick Margitza and Kirk Whalum and altoist Bobby Watson. In addition, there is a vocal apiece by Dianne Reeves ("Wrapped Around Your Finger"), Phil Perry ("Sister Moon"), Mark Ledford ("Every Breath You Take") and Jimi Tunnell ("I Burn for You"), but the emphasis is on jazz improvizing.