Track Listing

1. The Very Thought of You
2. Almost Like Being in Love
3. O Pato (The Duck
4. Les Yeux Ouverts (Dream A Little Dream of Me)
5. Pennies From Heaven
6. What A Little Moonlight Can Do
7. Surrey With the Fringe on Top
8. My Time of Day/I've Never Been in Love Before
9. C'est Si Bon
10. De Conversa Em Conversa
11. The Boy Next Door
12. So Many Stars

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4651 in Music
• Released on: 2007-06-12
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Amazon.ca
Canada certainly has produced a healthy collection of females singing loungey jazz covers in the last decade (Diana Krall may well be the matriarch, with Holly Cole and Sophie Milman following behind) so the question remains... how does Emily-Claire Barlow stand out from her competition? Well, creative control, for one thing, having produced and arranged The Very Thought of You, as well as writing the arrangements and conducting the string section on her disc. The end result is a collection that is a little more musically expansive than some of her traditionalist counterparts. The title track oozes its way forward, lushly and restrained; on the second track, "Almost Like Being in Love" Barlow commandingly scats, as she does in and out of a number of tunes, including "Surrey with the Fringe on Top," that features a beguiling arrangement that's far more sexy than perky. As for what the disc does best? That answer would have to be the way the Torontonian embraces jazzy samba and bossa nova rhythms on a number of different tracks, including the playful "Pennies from Heaven," "De Conversa Em Conversa" and the sensually breathy "So Many Stars." --Denise Sheppard

Album Description
This stunning new release may be Emilie-Claire's most personal album to date. There is an up-close and intimate tone that starts with the gorgeous cover art, and continues throughout this entire recording. The arrangements are fresh and focused, and all her own. Joined by an all-star band (Reg Schwager, Nancy Walker, Kieran Overs, Mark Kelso) and some fabulous guest soloists (Kelly Jefferson, Kevin Turcotte, Bill McBirnie, Alan Hetherington) Emilie-Claire leads the group, including a large string ensemble, through gems from the American Songbook (Almost Like being In Love, What A Little Moonlight Can Do, Surrey With The Fringe on Top), beautiful bossa novas (So Many Stars, De Conversa Em Conversa), and even a few tunes en francais! (C'est Si Bon, Les Yeux Ouverts).Ý This album is romantic, playful, lush, swinging......timeless.

The Very Thought of You When you can't get that certain someone out of your head, and counting the minutes until you see them again.. You float around in a constant state of distraction, a few inches off the ground...dreamy, blurry...... It's infatuation, I guess. What a wonderful feeling...

Almost Like Being in Love I didn't realize this tune had a verse, and at the last minute I found some old sheet music that had it written out. I was sold. I also thought it was the perfect tune to perform in the style that I love so much and have taken much inspiration from lately - Nat King Cole Trio. Just swinging piano, guitar and bass.

O Pato (The Duck) I caught a video online of Joao Gilberto and Caetano Veloso performing this tune live. One of the comments was "Wow - 2 grown men quacking like a duck!". Somehow - they can pull it off. The Portuguese version of the word "quack"Ý is "quem" - Yes - animal noises are funny in any language. The story of this tune is so cute, and John Hendricks did a fantastic job of translating it to an english version. Everything he has anything to do with just turns out so hip - even a song about ducks.

Les Yeux Ouverts This is such a well known song - a very familiar melody. It really lends itself to the french language in my opinion. I love singing in different languages. This song really seemed to fit on the record. This tune also gave me the string writing bug again.

Pennies From Heaven I had this idea in my head for about 3 years. I could hear this samba version of this tune running around in my brain. There is something 'floaty' abut the melody, especially in the bridge that I thought would lend itself to this groove. It just took a while to get it out on paper and then into the studio. Right from the beginning I knew I was going to require a Bill McBirnie flute solo. And he didn't let me down!Ý

What A Little Moonlight Can Do I love Nancy Wilson's version of this tune, but I wanted to do something a bit different. This arrangement draws from several inspirations, the most prevalent being Tierney Sutton's "East of The Sun". I heard her singing a chorus just with drums and I thought it would work for this tune. The bass and voice 'vocalese' just came pouring out as an extension of the lyric, continuing with the idea of infatuation, and a stolen moment or two.

Surrey With The Fringe On Top My favourite version of this tune is Mel Torme's - on the album "Mel Torme Swings Schubert Alley". It's the combination of Mel's perfect delivery in his prime and Marty Paich's incredibly hip arrangement. If you are familiar with that version you will note that I borrowed a bit of Mr. Paich's brilliant ideas in the first few bars of the bridge. Hey - if you're going to steal from someone.....

My Time Of Day/I've Never Been In Love Before Guys and Dolls is my favourite musical of all time - hands down. The music is perfect and the lyrics are perfect. I've Never Been In Love Before" has been done many times by various jazz artists, but in the musical, Skye Masterson sings "My Time of Day" to Sarah Brown right before they launch into that ballad. They are capping off an evening of falling in love and discovering the city after dark.Ý

De Conversa Em Conversa Depite being such a peppy little ditty, this is actually a song about breaking up. It's not an angry song, it's just a realistic song - we seem to fight a lot. Maybe we should pack up our things and go our separate ways. I must have listened to Joao Gilberto sing this about hundreds of times. I wanted to keep it simple. It's the bossa nova - don't mess with it.

C'est Si Bon I believe this tune was my mother's suggestion. She has such a good knack for song selection. It is such a well known tune, but I can't recall it being done that much in the last few decades.Ý

The Boy Next Door This song has such a good verse. It could be done for that reason alone. But it also has a really interesting melody. I don't do nearly enough songs in 3/4 time.

So Many Stars I am a huge fan of Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66. This song, like "Like A Lover" really exemplifies what they were all about. It seems like such a simple tune, but once I set out to record it, I realized it's one of the most difficult songs I've ever sung. An interesting and sometimes unexpected melody.Ý

Album Description
Includes the bonus track U R Goin To Be A Habit With Me.