What's New

About

What's New is a Grammy-nominated, Triple Platinum-certified, 1983 Jazz album by American singer/songwriter/producer Linda Ronstadt consisting of nine songs of jazz music. It represents the first in a trilogy of 1980s albums Ronstadt recorded with the late bandleader/arranger Nelson Riddle. The album spawned a major change in popular culture because Ronstadt was then considered the leading female vocalist of the 'Rock' era. Both her record company and manager, Peter Asher, were very reluctant to produce this album with Ronstadt, but eventually her determination won them over and the albums exposed a whole new generation to the sounds of the pre-swing and swing era. In 1983, Traditional Pop Standards music was pushed aside and the one-time popular music sung by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Peggy Lee, and their contemporaries was relegated in the 1960s and 1970s to Las Vegas club acts and elevator music. Ronstadt recently remarked that she did her part in rescuing these songs in which she calls "little jewels of artistic expression" from "spending the rest of their lives riding up and down on the elevator." What's New was released in September 1983 and spent 81 weeks on the main Billboard album chart. It held the #3 position for five consecutive weeks while Michael Jackson's Thriller and Lionel Richie's Can't Slow Down locked in the #1 and #2 album position. The album also reached #2 on the Jazz albums chart. It was RIAA certified Triple Platinum for sales of over 3 million copies in the United States alone. The album also earned Linda yet another Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female alongside Donna Summer, Bonnie Tyler, Irene Cara and Sheena Easton, all of whom performed live on the 1984 Grammy telecast. Stephen Holden of the New York Times noted the significance of the album to popular culture when he wrote that What's New "isn't the first album by a rock singer to pay tribute to the golden age of the pop, but is ... the best and most serious attempt to rehabilitate an idea of pop that Beatlemania and the mass marketing of rock LP's for teen-agers undid in the mid-60'. In the decade prior to Beatlemania, most of the great band singers and crooners of the 40's and 50's codified a half-century of American pop standards on dozens of album, many of them now long out-of-print." Personnel Linda Ronstadt – vocals Ray Brown – bass Dennis Budimir – guitar Tommy Tedesco – guitar Don Grolnick – piano John Guerin – drums Jim Hughart – bass Plas Johnson – saxophone Bob Cooper – saxophone Oscar Brashear – trumpet Tony Terran – trumpet Chauncey Welsch – trombone Production notes Peter Asher – producer Nelson Riddle – arranger, conductor, orchestra Nathan Ross – concert master Leonard Atkinss – concert master George Massenburg – engineer, mixing Doug Sax – mastering .

via Last.fm

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