''Silver Pony'' is a studio album by American jazz singer

Cassandra Wilson Cassandra Wilson (born December 4, 1955) is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. She is one of the most successful female jazz singers and has been described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed wit ...

, released in November 2010 on

Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by History of the Jews in Germany, German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it deriv ...

. A mixture of live and studio-recorded tracks, it was produced by Wilson and John Fischbach. The release includes jazz, blues and pop standards, as well as original music by Wilson and her band. Saxophonist

Ravi Coltrane Ravi Coltrane (born August 6, 1965) is an American jazz saxophonist. Co-owner of the record label RKM Music, he has produced music for pianist Luis Perdomo, guitarist David Gilmore, and trumpeter Ralph Alessi. Biography Ravi Coltrane is t ...

and singer

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He began his musical career working behind the scenes for other artists, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Every ...

make guest appearances. The album received mixed, but generally positive, reviews from critics. Reviewers complimented Wilson's vocals and particularly enjoyed the focus on her band. More negative reviews came from critics who felt that ''Silver Pony'' was below Wilson's usual standard and contained little originality. The album reached No. 6 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Jazz Albums chart.

Composition and recording

''Silver Pony'' is a jazz and blues album, with some elements of pop music. The tracks include live improvisations created by Wilson and her band on tour in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, and

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

as well as jazz and blues standards. The album opens with a live version of " Lover Come Back to Me", a 1920s popular song from ''

The New Moon ''The New Moon'' is an operetta with music by Sigmund Romberg, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel, and Laurence Schwab. The show was the third in a string of Broadway hits for Romberg (after ''The St ...

'' by

Oscar Hammerstein II Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and director in musical theater for nearly 40 years. He won eight Tony Awards and two Academy Award ...

and

Sigmund Romberg Sigmund Romberg (July 29, 1887 – November 9, 1951) was a Hungarian-born American composer. He is best known for his Musical theatre, musicals and operettas, particularly ''The Student Prince'' (1924), ''The Desert Song'' (1926) and ''The New Moo ...

. This is one of three live tracks that appeared as studio-recorded versions on Wilson's previous album, ''

Loverly ''Loverly'' is a studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, released in 2008 via Blue Note label. This is her second-ever album of jazz standards. ''Loverly'' won the Grammy Award as the Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2008. Reception And ...

'' (2008); the others are the traditional song " Went Down to St James Infirmary" and "

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" by

Luiz Bonfá Luiz Floriano Bonfá (17 October 1922 – 12 January 2001) was a Brazilian guitarist and composer. He was best known for the music he composed for the film '' Black Orpheus''. Biography Luiz Floriano Bonfá was born on October 17, 1922, in Ri ...

. "Saddle Up My Pony" is a version of the 1929 Delta blues song " Pony Blues" by

Charley Patton Charlie Patton (April 1891 (probable) – April 28, 1934), more often spelled Charley Patton, was an American Delta blues musician and songwriter. Considered by many to be the "Father of the Delta Blues", he created an enduring body of America ...

. The album was produced by Wilson and John Fischbach. In addition to the recordings made on tour in Europe, the album was recorded and produced at Fischbach's

Piety Street Recording Piety Street Recording is a recording studio at 728 Piety Street in the 9th Ward/Bywater, New Orleans, Bywater, New Orleans. History The building was originally a US post office and later housed the Louisiana Center For Retarded Citizens. After ...

studio in

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. Wilson's regular band consisted of

Marvin Sewell Marvin Sewell is an American blues/jazz guitarist from Chicago. Biography He was born and grew up in Chicago, where he attended the Chicago Musical College at Roosevelt University. Since 1990, he has been based in New York City. Sewell has pla ...

on guitar,

Jonathan Batiste Jonathan Michael Batiste (born November 11, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, composer, bandleader, and television personality. He has recorded and performed with artists including Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Willie Nel ...

on piano, Reginald Veal on bass,

Herlin Riley Herlin Riley (born February 15, 1957) is an American jazz drummer and a member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis. A native of New Orleans, Riley started on the drums when he was three. He played trumpet through high ...

on drums and Lekan Babalola on percussion. The album features guest appearances by

on "Watch the Sunrise" and a saxophone solo by

on "Beneath a Silver Moon". The album title and cover art are inspired by an incident from Wilson's childhood in

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

; "A man came around ... with a pony and camera, and you could pay to get your picture taken." Although Wilson's brothers were not interested, her mother allowed her to be photographed on the pony, and the image of Wilson is used on the album cover.

Reception

Writing for ''

JazzTimes ''JazzTimes'' was an American print magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade ...

'', Carlo Wolff gave the album a positive review. He praised "Beneath a Silver Moon" and "Saddle Up My Pony" in particular, and described Wilson's band as "exceptional". He questioned the inclusion of the two instrumental tracks because of the change in pace they brought but said that overall, the album "reaffirms Wilson's status as a premier jazz singer". Steve Leggett of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

gave the album a rating of four stars out of five. He described it as "a light, shimmering sound" and felt that despite the different styles and mix of live and studio material, the album remains cohesive. In a review for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', John Fordham gave the album four stars out of five. He noted a continuation of "confidence and focus" from her previous album, ''Loverly''. He described the track list as "powerfully compatible". Reviewing the album for

BBC Music BBC Music is the arm of the BBC responsible for the music played across its services. The current director of music is Lorna Clarke. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio operational division; however, its remit also includes music used i ...

, John Eyles was complimentary and said that it continues a "rich vein of form" begun with 1993's '' Blue Light 'til Dawn''. He praised Wilson's voice and noted that with ''Silver Pony'', her band are no longer overshadowed. Jim Farber of New York's '' Daily News'' noted the equality between Wilson and her band and the balance between her vocals and their instrumentals. He enjoyed the contrast between Wilson's soft vocals and the fast tempo of the songs and noted the seamless transitions between live and studio-recorded tracks. He praised Wilson's growth as an artist in the time since her last live recordings, on 1991's ''

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''. In a review for ''

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'',

Stephen Deusner Stephen M. Deusner is an American music critic and part-time record store clerk who lives in Bloomington, Indiana. A native of Tennessee, he has contributed to Pitchfork Media (including ''the Pitchfork 500''), ''Salon'', '' CMT'', ''American Songwr ...

gave ''Silver Pony'' a "commendable" rating of 7.6 out of 10. He described "Went Down to St James Infirmary" and "Saddle Up My Pony" as the best tracks on the album. He praised the band and called them the "true stars" of the album. Although he commented that Wilson voice has improved over the years, on this album he felt that she was just a "support player", and enjoyed least the songs that strongly featured her voice. Will Layman of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' gave ''Silver Pony'' a more negative review, awarding it six stars out of ten. Although he described Wilson's vocals as "deep and delicious", and the tracks as "fun and funky", his opinion was that the album "rehashed" her Wilson's previous work. He said that although new listeners might be impressed, fans would not find anything new. He praised the band, and enjoyed the renditions of "Forty Days and Forty Nights" and "If It's Magic". However, overall he found the album "inessential and merely fine". ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''s Phil Johnson gave the album a similarly mixed review, suggesting that it "might mark time more than break new ground". Writing for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', Ivan Hewlett gave the album a three star rating. He noted that it was "firmly in the territory" of Wilson's usual eclectic style, that combines blues, funk and the

Great American Songbook The Great American Songbook is the loosely defined canon of significant 20th-century American jazz standards, popular songs, and show tunes. Definition According to the Great American Songbook Foundation: The "Great American Songbook" is th ...

. He complimented Wilson's "astonishing" voice and "wonderful" band but felt that the album as a whole was "all too smooth to be really engaging". An unnamed reviewer from the

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gave the album a rating of three and a half stars. They noted the album's mix of live and studio recordings and commented that this was Wilson "back to her trademark eclectic ways". The reviewer praised the band and particularly enjoyed their improvisation on "Lover Come Back to Me". Overall, they thought ''Silver Pony'' was "above-average", but inconsistent and below Wilson's usual standard. Writing for

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, Steve Greenlee commented that Wilson's mixed-genre style is no longer innovative, but feels natural. He particularly praised the contributions of Wilson's band members.

Chart performance

''Silver Pony'' peaked at No. 6 on the ''

'' Jazz Albums chart and reached No. 21 on the

Top Heatseekers The Heatseekers charts were "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales b ...

Albums chart.

Track listing

#" Lover Come Back to Me" (

) – 6:51 #" Went Down to St James Infirmary" (Irving Mills) – 7:14 #"A Night in Seville" – 3:00 #"Beneath a Silver Moon" – 6:39 #" Saddle Up My Pony" (

) – 9:32 #"If It's Magic" (

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

) – 4:34 #"

Forty Days and Forty Nights 40 (forty) is the natural number following 39 and preceding 41. Though the word is related to ''four'' (4), the spelling ''forty'' replaced ''fourty'' during the 17th century and is now the standard form. Mathematics 40 is an abundant number ...

" (Bernard Roth) – 4:59 #"Silver Pony" – 0:36 #"

" (

) – 7:35 #" Blackbird" ( Lennon/McCartney) – 6:45 #"Watch the Sunrise" (J. Stephens, Luke Laird, Steven Dale Jones) – 3:31 * Tracks 1 – 3, 5 and 9 were recorded live in Europe (Granada, Seville and Warsaw). * Tracks 4, 6 – 8, 10 and 11 were recorded at Piety Street Recording studio in New Orleans, LA. * Tracks 3, 4 and 8 written by, tracks 2 and 5 arranged by Wilson, Riley, Batiste, Babalola, Sewell, Veal.

Personnel

From ''Discogs''. Band *Cassandra Wilson – vocals, synthesizer (track 4), bass drum (11) *Marvin Sewell – electric guitar, acoustic guitar *

– piano,

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

*Reginald Veal – acoustic bass, electric bass *

– drums *Lekan Babalola – percussion *

– tenor saxophone (4) *

– piano, vocals (11) *Helen Gillet – cello,

vielle The is a European bowed stringed instrument used in the medieval period, similar to a modern violin but with a somewhat longer and deeper body, three to five gut strings, and a leaf-shaped pegbox with frontal tuning pegs, sometimes with a fig ...

(11) *Brandon Ross – acoustic guitar (11) *

Luke Laird Luke Robert Laird (born May 4, 1978 in Hartstown, Pennsylvania) is an American country music songwriter and producer. He has written over 20 number one ''Billboard'' singles, including Carrie Underwood's " So Small", " Temporary Home", and ...

– acoustic rhythm guitar (11) Production *Producers – John Fischbach, Cassandra Wilson *Associate producers – Lekan Babalola, Jonathan Batiste, Herlin Riley, Marvin Sewell, Reginald Veal *Studio engineer and mixing – John Fischbach *Assistant studio engineer and Pro Tools wizard – Wes Fontenot *Live recording engineer – Don Juan Holder *Live recording assistant – Tobias Lange *Mastering –

Bob Katz Bob Katz is an American audio mastering engineer and author of a popular book on audio mastering. Katz has mastered three Grammy Award–winning albums and one nominated album. Projects he has worked on have received Grammys and acclaim from audi ...

* A&R – Antwon Jackson, Eli Wolf Design *Larry Blumenfeld – liner notes *Shanieka D. Brooks – product manager *Gordon H. Jee – creative director *Rachel Salomon – cover illustration *Will Sterling – photography *Burton Yount – art direction, design

References

{{Authority control 2010 albums Cassandra Wilson albums Blue Note Records albums