| Chanson |
Danielle Wertz is an up-and-coming artist on the jazz scene, and her album Other Side draws more from classical music than jazz. Her voice resembles that of some artists from the German label ACT, making the album closer to the European scene than the American one.
The compositions and arrangements are luxurious, but the repetitive nature of the tracks leads to boredom towards the end. Despite the musical and vocal perfection, it’s difficult in this type of exercise to hold the listener’s attention until the end. The album has the atmosphere of some Swedish pop singer albums from the 90s, but it’s not enough to bring the originality that fans of the genre crave.
It takes multiple listens to get into Danielle Wertz’s artistic sensibility. Perhaps a more jazz-oriented album would have been a better fit, allowing for a more natural dimension to Danielle’s voice. However, this album conforms too much to the code of contemporary classical music, giving a strange aspect to the “jazzy” parts. I remain convinced that Danielle is an artist to watch. With a less pretentious album, we would have surely been captivated.
With the amount of albums we receive, we are increasingly searching for originality, especially given the high quality albums we have received in recent weeks. If we have decided to include this album in our “favorite” list, it’s thanks to the title track “Cloud Shaped Thoughts.” This is the simplest and by far the most successful track on the album, allowing us to listen to the magnificent voice of Danielle Wertz without overdoing it.
If, like us, you believe that an album can sometimes be a bridge between one way of thinking about art and another, this album is certainly that type of bridge.
Thierry Docmac
Correspondent in USA
Bayou Blue News – Bayou Blue Radio – Paris-Move
PARIS-MOVE, February 8th 2023
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Available 10/03/2023