Year: 2025
Time: 41:05
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 94,5 MB
Art: Front
(4:48) 1. Mack the Knife
(5:44) 2. Speak Low
(4:22) 3. Surabaya Johnny
(4:16) 4. My Ship
(5:53) 5. Pirate Jenny
(5:04) 6. Le Grand Lustucru
(6:05) 7. Die Ballade vom ertrunkenen Mädchen
(4:50) 8. Salomon Song
Germany's optimistic yet fragile Weimar Republic period was wedged between two brutal wars during the early 20th century. Extending from 1918 to 1933, it was proudly called the Jazz Age and the Golden Twenties and offered an abundance of free-flowing entertainment choices. It was also a time of inflation, chaos and conflict dominated by economic instability and political extremism.
Although German cabaret had its origins at the beginning of the century, its true glory days reigned during those heady years between the wars. A bawdy combination of music, dance, theater and comedy was originally presented in opulent venues but also migrated to seedy grottos and decadent clubs. Flashing from the marquees were the names of producers and composers, including Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. Performers such as Lotte Lenya (Weill's wife) helped personify the characters. Other chanteuses included Marlene Dietrich, Germany's original queen of seduction, who got her start in clubs and went onto worldwide fame via song and cinema.
The mantra of the masses was grab a bottle of champagne and embrace the morbid humor, cynicism and sarcasm of the day. Although the republic was short lived, the sounds and stories successfully moved from sewers to streets to stages and endures to this day. The last few decades of the 20th century saw Marianne Faithfull, the 'Brit It' girl, fall under the spell of Weill and Brecht and an aging Lenya blessing the up-and-coming operatic soprano and actress Teresa Stratas.
Then there was German born Ute Lemper. She flirted with a jazz combo in the very late 1970s and embraced theater and dance in the 1980s and used her long, lean statuesque physique to its utmost advantage. She could be wide-eyed and animated like Fanny Brice or vamp things up like a regal Norma Desmond. There was always a sly nod and wink from Lemper to her audience. She eventually shimmied and sashayed her way through performances in Cats, Cabaret, Chicago and more. People noticed.
Marlene Dietrich befriended Lemper upon hearing about a Dietrich inspired Lemper performance soon followed by her full-length recording debut in the late 1980s. In keeping with the bittersweet lyrics of the 1920s and beyond, she wearily sang "I'm a poor relation," "I work my fingers to the bone," and "that's not living, that's just frustration" on the very first song of her first album. Two songs later, Lemper cooly mesmerized the listener with the macabre tale of "Mack the Knife" and revealed "there's a dead man lying on the shore," that "Jenny Towler was found with a knife in her chest" and concluded with "those in the dark cannot be seen."
With Dietrich's blessing of Lemper's presentations, the torch had passed. Although five of Lemper's first seven albums focused on Weill, she eventually recorded music affiliated with Edith Piaf plus works by Jacques Brel, Stephen Sondheim and more contemporary artists, such as Tom Waits. Lemper even began writing and recording her own material. Her 2025 release, Pirate Jenny, confirms that the addictive pull of Weill continues.
This disc is a 21st-century interpretation of Weill pieces sans a retro 1920s sound and style. The collection is a celebration of Weill's birth in 1900 and further confirms his enduring staying power. Although the black-and-white cover photo of Lemper with blood-red lipstick is as alluring as ever, a 2025 Lemper video draws us into a concrete quicksand of a decadent underground. She prowls through the streets as a slightly deranged back-alley Joker, complete with garishly smeared lipstick and a weary cat like swagger and sway. As for the album, it is a collection of only eight pieces (six sung in English plus one each in German and French) with Weill-Brecht collaborations featured on five selections, all from the 1920s.
It may only be eight songs but you will still meet a menagerie of nefarious characters. A decidedly eerie and cautious "Mack the Knife," opens the show. This hypnotic missive is more a dreary Bladerunner 2049 than a vibrant Berlin 1928 and it sets the tone for the evening. There is a pair of Weill songs from the early war years of the 1940s. "Speak Low" (lyrics by Ogden Nash) drifts on ethereal clouds of sound while "My Ship" (lyrics by Ira Gershwin) floats on understated ribbons of sound. Both are complemented by the brief appearance of a muted trumpet which returns during several other songs as well. Both "Speak Low" and "My Ship" went on to become jazz standards recorded by a seemingly endless A-list of top artists.
Then "Pirate Jenny" takes center stage at the album's midpoint. Whether pickpocket, prostitute or a tart combination of both, she commands our attention with a cynical growl that is more spoken than sung. The final track, the Weill-Brecht penned "Solomon Song," is a tortuous tale that maintains the same atmospheric aural drone that dominates the album from start to finish.
If you are in search of new interpretation with subtle twists and turns, welcome to tonight's cabaret since the liner notes remind the listener this is "Kurt Weill reimagined... " If you are seeking more traditional versions of these songs, rewind to any number of earlier Lemper releases and cherry-pick a collection of your choice. It ultimately comes down to 'different' instead of 'better or worse.' There are no garish klieg lights or bombastic orchestra at this venue, just low-key sounds with swirls of smoke lingeringand then dissipating into thin air. By Scott Gudell
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/pirate-jenny-ute-lemper-the-audiophile-society
Although German cabaret had its origins at the beginning of the century, its true glory days reigned during those heady years between the wars. A bawdy combination of music, dance, theater and comedy was originally presented in opulent venues but also migrated to seedy grottos and decadent clubs. Flashing from the marquees were the names of producers and composers, including Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. Performers such as Lotte Lenya (Weill's wife) helped personify the characters. Other chanteuses included Marlene Dietrich, Germany's original queen of seduction, who got her start in clubs and went onto worldwide fame via song and cinema.
The mantra of the masses was grab a bottle of champagne and embrace the morbid humor, cynicism and sarcasm of the day. Although the republic was short lived, the sounds and stories successfully moved from sewers to streets to stages and endures to this day. The last few decades of the 20th century saw Marianne Faithfull, the 'Brit It' girl, fall under the spell of Weill and Brecht and an aging Lenya blessing the up-and-coming operatic soprano and actress Teresa Stratas.
Then there was German born Ute Lemper. She flirted with a jazz combo in the very late 1970s and embraced theater and dance in the 1980s and used her long, lean statuesque physique to its utmost advantage. She could be wide-eyed and animated like Fanny Brice or vamp things up like a regal Norma Desmond. There was always a sly nod and wink from Lemper to her audience. She eventually shimmied and sashayed her way through performances in Cats, Cabaret, Chicago and more. People noticed.
Marlene Dietrich befriended Lemper upon hearing about a Dietrich inspired Lemper performance soon followed by her full-length recording debut in the late 1980s. In keeping with the bittersweet lyrics of the 1920s and beyond, she wearily sang "I'm a poor relation," "I work my fingers to the bone," and "that's not living, that's just frustration" on the very first song of her first album. Two songs later, Lemper cooly mesmerized the listener with the macabre tale of "Mack the Knife" and revealed "there's a dead man lying on the shore," that "Jenny Towler was found with a knife in her chest" and concluded with "those in the dark cannot be seen."
With Dietrich's blessing of Lemper's presentations, the torch had passed. Although five of Lemper's first seven albums focused on Weill, she eventually recorded music affiliated with Edith Piaf plus works by Jacques Brel, Stephen Sondheim and more contemporary artists, such as Tom Waits. Lemper even began writing and recording her own material. Her 2025 release, Pirate Jenny, confirms that the addictive pull of Weill continues.
This disc is a 21st-century interpretation of Weill pieces sans a retro 1920s sound and style. The collection is a celebration of Weill's birth in 1900 and further confirms his enduring staying power. Although the black-and-white cover photo of Lemper with blood-red lipstick is as alluring as ever, a 2025 Lemper video draws us into a concrete quicksand of a decadent underground. She prowls through the streets as a slightly deranged back-alley Joker, complete with garishly smeared lipstick and a weary cat like swagger and sway. As for the album, it is a collection of only eight pieces (six sung in English plus one each in German and French) with Weill-Brecht collaborations featured on five selections, all from the 1920s.
It may only be eight songs but you will still meet a menagerie of nefarious characters. A decidedly eerie and cautious "Mack the Knife," opens the show. This hypnotic missive is more a dreary Bladerunner 2049 than a vibrant Berlin 1928 and it sets the tone for the evening. There is a pair of Weill songs from the early war years of the 1940s. "Speak Low" (lyrics by Ogden Nash) drifts on ethereal clouds of sound while "My Ship" (lyrics by Ira Gershwin) floats on understated ribbons of sound. Both are complemented by the brief appearance of a muted trumpet which returns during several other songs as well. Both "Speak Low" and "My Ship" went on to become jazz standards recorded by a seemingly endless A-list of top artists.
Then "Pirate Jenny" takes center stage at the album's midpoint. Whether pickpocket, prostitute or a tart combination of both, she commands our attention with a cynical growl that is more spoken than sung. The final track, the Weill-Brecht penned "Solomon Song," is a tortuous tale that maintains the same atmospheric aural drone that dominates the album from start to finish.
If you are in search of new interpretation with subtle twists and turns, welcome to tonight's cabaret since the liner notes remind the listener this is "Kurt Weill reimagined... " If you are seeking more traditional versions of these songs, rewind to any number of earlier Lemper releases and cherry-pick a collection of your choice. It ultimately comes down to 'different' instead of 'better or worse.' There are no garish klieg lights or bombastic orchestra at this venue, just low-key sounds with swirls of smoke lingeringand then dissipating into thin air. By Scott Gudell
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/pirate-jenny-ute-lemper-the-audiophile-society
Pirate Jenny
