A collaboration between the classical artist and pianist Dinnerstien and the rootsy singer/songwriter Merritt, Night manages to cover a wide-variety of songs on its 14 tracks, with takes on Billie Holliday/Nina Simone's "Don't Explain" to Schubert's "Night And Dreams" to Bach's "Prelude In B Minor From Clavierbuchlein" to Leonard Cohen. Mixed in between these songs are fantastic songs written by Merritt herself and stunning readings of "Wayfaring Stranger," Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now" and Patty Griffin's "Night."
Some might think it is odd to have a popular music artist like Merritt collaborate with a classical musician like Dinnerstein but what makes Night work is that it's a work of two equals, sort of like when Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis collaborated on their fantastic Blue Note album a few years back. Tift and Simone bring an elegance to these recordings and while they're likely never to see the light of day on any pop music playlist, the tracks of Night are brilliantly performed with Merritt's angelic vocal driving the lyrics while Dinnerstein's elegant musicality brings something new to my and most-likely many popular music fan's ears.
If you're willing to give Night your ears, you'll be in for a treat, the kind of treat that only gets more satisfying with repeated listens.
Listen to the entire album "Night" by Simone Dinnerstein and Tift Merritt here!
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