Mellow Madness Music

www.ververecords.com

I have been saying for years “when Gladys Knight decides to make a jazz standard record it will be incredible”. Incredible it is to the start to finish. The cd is titled “Before Me” and Gladys sings music made famous by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn and Diana Washington. The first selection Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me has so much energy and is so alive, you immediately know you are in for a treat. My favorite selection on the cd is This Bitter Earth. I remember as a child my mother playing Diana Washington version many days while she was tending to her many household duties (Gladys does that song justice). But Not For Me is one of those real hip songs that anyone singing has to do it right or leave it alone, Gladys version is fantastic. To wrap up the cd Gladys takes you to church with Duke Ellington’s Come Sunday (What a way to close a project like this). Don’t let “Before Me” sit on a record store shelf, purchase a copy it’s a winner.

CD Tracks

1. Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me
2. The Man I Love
3. Good Morning Heartache
4. Since I Fell For You
5. God Bless The Child
6. This Bitter Earth
7. I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)
8. Someone To Watch Over Me
9. But Not For Me
10. I'll Be Seeing You
11. Stormy Weather
12. Come Sunday