Leonard Cohen
's musical career began in the 1960s as a singer and songwriter who, as the so-called "poet of erotic despair," was widely considered to be so dour it was off-putting. By the time
Cohen
passed in 2016, he was a beloved artist who sold out large venues around the world, while his song "Hallelujah" became an unlikely standard. While there's no arguing that
's style (and its presentation) became significantly more approachable in the 1980s and '90s, the re-evaluation of his music still seems surprising when examining the full arc of his career, and it's hard to imagine that the man who made 1971's
Songs of Love and Hate
and 1974's
New Skin for the Old Ceremony
would inspire an album like 2022's
Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen
. The album was coordinated by producer
Larry Klein
, who was a friend of the great songwriter, and he assembled a stellar band of jazz artists -
Bill Frisell
on guitar,
Immanuel Wilkins
on sax,
Kevin Hays
on piano,
Scott Colley
on bass, and
Nate Smith
on drums -- to back ten different singers interpreting
's songs.
Klein
's approach gives
Here It Is
a coherent, unified sound that feels like an album rather than a collection of stray tracks. The players are all in superb form, and
Wilkins
and
Frisell
each lead an instrumental performance, pointing to
's gift for writing melodies and not just words. With the exception of
Iggy Pop
, whose gritty, weathered voice brings out all of the sinister undercurrents in "You Want It Darker," the singers on
have contributed to honor the beauty of
's music rather than the more challenging aspects; the most unforgiving of
's songs, "Avalanche," appears here as an instrumental led by
, who honors its spirit though the letter is absent. Different fans of
's work will have different opinions about the tone of
and its focus on one facet of his songbook at the expense of others. But there's no arguing the best performances here are wonderful and show off a keen understanding of these songs and what makes them work, especially
Mavis Staples
' yearning "If It Be Your Will,"
Luciana Souza
's sweetly mournful "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye," and
Gregory Porter
's cool but deeply felt reading of "Suzanne." Even the lesser performances (most notably
Peter Gabriel
's "Here It Is," where he tries so hard to sound like
that it's hard to tell who he is) show these artists know these are great songs, and they approach them with care and obvious admiration.
doesn't tell us all that's worth knowing about
's music, and in all fairness that's clearly not his goal. Here,
and his collaborators explore the light that seeps in through the cracks, and what it reflects is splendidly crafted and a heartfelt homage to a singular talent. ~ Mark Deming