New Moon Daughter

New Moon Daughter
Studio album by Cassandra Wilson
Released	1995
Recorded	The Turtle Creek Barn, Bearsville, NY and Sound On Sound, New York City
Genre	jazz, blues
Length	61:26
Label	Blue Note
Producer	Craig Street
Cassandra Wilson chronology
Blue Light 'Til Dawn (1993) New Moon Daughter (1995) Traveling Miles (1999)

New Moon Daughter is a studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, released in 1995 on Blue Note. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart in 1996.

Reception

A reviewer for Gramophone was generally positive about the album, praising Wilson's voice and her interpretations of the standards included. However, they said that compared to the originals, Wilson's versions may not be as powerful. They noted that with this album, Wilson appears to move away "from jazz heartlands or cutting edges and towards the embrace of 'pop cult' status." The reviewer particularly enjoyed "Skylark" (calling it "sublime") and "Last Train to Clarksville" ("a delight").^[1]

Rolling Stone's Geoffrey Himes reviewed the album positively. He noted its similarity to Wilson's previous album, Blue Light 'Til Dawn, but said that New Moon Daughter has more feeling and a darker tone. He said that Wilson makes Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" "her own". He noted the album's overall slow tempo as a weakness, wishing for a little more rhythmic diversity.^[2] Scott Yanow of Allmusic described Wilson's voice on the album as "quite bored and emotionally detached" but noted that she was "stretching herself".^[3]

Track listing

1. "Strange Fruit" (Lewis Allan) — 5:33
2. "Love Is Blindness" (Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr.) — 4:53
3. "Solomon Sang" (Cassandra Wilson) — 5:56
4. "Death Letter" (Son House) — 4:12
5. "Skylark" (Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer) — 4:08
6. "Find Him" (Wilson) — 4:37
7. "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" (Hank Williams) — 4:50
8. "Last Train to Clarksville" (Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart) — 5:15
9. "Until" (Wilson) — 6:29
10. "A Little Warm Death" (Wilson) — 5:43
11. "Memphis" (Wilson) — 5:04
12. "Harvest Moon" (Neil Young) — 5:01

• Japanese bonus track

13. "Moon River" (Mercer, Henry Mancini) — 5:22

• EMI Digital (2003) bonus track

13. "32-20 Blues" (Robert Johnson) — 5:23

Personnel

Music^[4]

• Cassandra Wilson – vocals, acoustic guitar
• Cyro Baptista – percussion, Jew's-Harp, shaker
• Dougie Bowne – percussion, drums, whistle, vibraphone
• Gary Breit – Hammond organ
• Kevin Breit – acoustic & electric guitar, banjo, bouzouki
• Brandon Ross – acoustic & electric guitar
• Charles Burnham – violin
• Tony Cedras– accordion
• Graham Haynes – cornet
• Lawrence "Butch" Morris – cornet
• Jeff Haynes – percussion, bongos
• Peepers – background vocals
• Mark Peterson – bass
• Lonnie Plaxico – bass
• Gib Wharton – pedal steel guitar
• Chris Whitley – guitar on 1

Production^[4]

• Craig Street – producer
• Danny Kopelson – engineer, mixing
• Greg Calbi – mastering
• John Chiarolanzo – assistant engineer
• Bill Emmons – assistant engineer
• Scott Gormley – assistant engineer
• Fred Kervorkian – editing, assistant engineer
• Steve Regina – assistant engineer
• John R. Reigart III – assistant engineer
• Tom Schick – assistant engineer

Design^[4]

• David Mayenfisch – photography

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
1996	Billboard Top Jazz Albums	1
	Billboard The Billboard 200	141
	Billboard Heatseekers	9

References

1. ^ KS (April 1996), "JCassandra Wilson New Moon Daughter.", Gramophone (Haymarket): 145, http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/April%201996/145/805311/JCassandra+Wilson+New+Moon+Daughter., retrieved July 20, 2010 
2. ^ Himes, Geoffrey (February 2, 1998), "Cassandra Wilson: New Moon Daughter", Rolling Stone (Wenner Media), archived from the original on October 1, 2007, http://web.archive.org/web/20071001063636/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/cassandrawilson/albums/album/175391/review/5945036/new_moon_daughter, retrieved July 20, 2010 
3. ^ Yanow, Scott, "New Moon Daughter > Review", Allmusic (Rovi Corporation), http://www.allmusic.com/album/r232821/review, retrieved July 20, 2010 
4. ^ ^{a b c} "New Moon Daughter > Credits", Allmusic (Rovi Corporation), http://www.allmusic.com/album/r232821/credits, retrieved July 20, 2010