August 19, 2022
Blue Note has released a stunning new rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Famous Blue Raincoat” by singer Nathaniel Rateliff accompanied by saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, guitarist Bill Frisell, pedal steel guitarist Greg Liesz, pianist Kevin Hays, organist Larry Goldings, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Nate Smith. It’s the second single to be revealed from Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen, a remarkable album produced by Larry Klein that features an extraordinary line-up of vocalists interpreting Cohen’s profound songs including Norah Jones, Peter Gabriel, Gregory Porter, Sarah McLachlan, Luciana Souza, James Taylor, Iggy Pop, Mavis Staples, and David Gray. Here It Is comes out Oct. 14 and can be pre-ordered now on D2C exclusive color vinyl, black vinyl, CD, or digital download.
“Leonard Cohen has been a massive influence on me since I was very young,” says Rateliff. “When I was asked to be a part of this project, I sent a huge list of songs that I wanted to do, honestly it was hard to pick. So many songs of his are my favorite songs of all time. ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’ was one of my early Cohen favs. It was truly a pleasure to work with such great musicians on this arrangement and to have Larry Klein at the helm was just a treat.”
“Leonard Cohen had been a friend since 1982 or so, and in the last 15 years of his life, he became a close friend,” says Klein. “He was possibly the wisest and funniest friend that I had, and someone that I enjoyed, immensely, in every way. After he passed away, I found myself frequently covering his songs with other artists that I was working with. One reason, of course, is that the songs are so good, but the other reason was that it helped keep him in the air around me.”
So Klein decided to assemble an album’s worth of Cohen songs, matching vocalists from different genres with an exceptional core band of jazz-based musicians—or, as he puts it, “a group of the most prescient and forward-looking musicians in the jazz world.”
The album’s 12 tracks offer a range of Cohen’s compositions, with songs drawn from his beloved 1967 debut Songs of Leonard Cohen all the way up to selections from his final album, You Want It Darker, released just days before his death in 2016. The set covers some of his best-known classics and less familiar deep cuts, all given new life through thoughtful and unexpected arrangements and performances. The resulting collection is ultimately reminiscent of the concept that guided Klein’s production of Herbie Hancock’s 2007 album River: The Joni Letters, which won the GRAMMY Award for Album of the Year (and on which one of the featured singers was, in fact, Leonard Cohen).
“It was an immensely gratifying experience to recontextualize these poems, and shine a different light on them,” Klein continues. “I hope that this musical language that we developed together, the context that we put these things in, makes the songs connect with people in a new way.”
The track listing for Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen is as follows:
- Steer Your Way – Norah Jones
- Here It Is – Peter Gabriel
- Suzanne – Gregory Porter
- Hallelujah – Sarah McLachlan
- Avalanche – Immanuel Wilkins
- Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye – Luciana Souza
- Coming Back to You – James Taylor
- You Want It Darker – Iggy Pop
- If It Be Your Will – Mavis Staples
- Seems So Long Ago, Nancy – David Gray
- Famous Blue Raincoat – Nathaniel Rateliff
- Bird on The Wire – Bill Frisell
