Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Naama Gheber: I’m A Fool To Want You

Naama Gheber: I’m A Fool To Want You

By C. Michael Bailey
June 16, 2022
View read count

Track review of "I'm A Fool To Want You"

Vocalist

Naama Gheber

vocals
b.1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Naama Gheber is applying a different paradigm to the release of her second recording, the EP If I Knew Then, presently due for release in November 2022. She previously released the single "Old Mother Hubbard" and now follows it with a starkly fashioned "I'm A Fool To Want You." Gheber released her debut recording Dearly Beloved (Cellar Live) in early 2020. It received considerable attention within All About Jazz and other outlets. The talent revealed rivals that of

Veronica Swift

vocals

" data-original-title="" title="">Veronica Swift,

Cecile McLorin Salvant

vocals
b.1989

" data-original-title="" title="">Cecile McLorin Salvant, and

Jane Monheit

vocals
b.1977

" data-original-title="" title="">Jane Monheit while remaining firmly in traditional jazz vocals mode.

"I'm A Fool To Want You" was composed by

Frank Sinatra

vocals
1915 - 1998

" data-original-title="" title="">Frank Sinatra, Jack Wolf, and Joel Herron, originally released in 1951 on the Columbia 78, 39425. The song ostensibly was written about Ava Gardner, with whom Sinatra was having a very public affair, one that badly damaged his family and career at the time. It became one of Sinatra's most popular performance songs. But it is another performance of the song that informs Gheber's performance, that of

Billie Holiday

vocals
1915 - 1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Billie Holiday on her near valedictory Lady In Satin (Columbia, 1958). Here, Holiday was singing on fumes, all grit, and emotion. Her voice shot, closing in on the end (she was to die of cirrhosis a year later), Holiday demonstrated how the consummate artist concludes...never with the expectation that is what she was doing.

Gheber distills Holiday's plush, orchestra-driven performance to the small concentrated confines of the jazz singer supported only by piano. Pianist

Ben Paterson

piano
b.1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Ben Paterson establishes a darkly hewn environment of regret that Gehber readily inhabits, channeling Holiday's resigned phrasing ever so lightly. Gheber's voice is well-balanced presenting the self sympathy, resignation, and crushing loss as densely realized experiences. Gheber's performance could serve as an appropriate preamble to what happens to the protagonist of

Billy Strayhorn

piano
1915 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life," the bitter end of an evolution toward loss and despair. This is what the best singing accomplishes.

Learn more about our star rating system

Personnel

Naama Gheber

vocals

Ben Paterson

piano

Album information

Title: If I Knew Then | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Sassy's In Town

PREVIOUS / NEXT

New Releases And Anthony Braxton Liv...
< Previous

Mazel Tov Cocktail Party!
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.