Jazz Articles about Holly Cole

Gabriel Yacoub, Roberta Flack, Holly Cole, Jowee Omicil and Allen Ginsberg

by Cliff Furnald
March 15, 2025

RootsWorld Radio slips between the cracks of jazz, folk and popular idioms this month with music from two artists we recently lost: Gabriel Yacoub from France and Roberta Flack. We'll also hear from Los Lobos (US), Jaune Toujours & Gangbe Brass Band (Belgium and Benin), Irma Thomas and Galactic (US), Adrian Quesada & Abraham Alexander (US), Jowee Omicil (US), Allen Ginsberg, Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson (US), Tupa Ruja (Italy), Urna Chahar-Tugchi (Mongolia), Holly Cole (Canada), Maia Friedman (US) and ...

Holly Cole: Kiss Me Quick

by John Chacona
February 4, 2025

Hands up everyone who thinks there should be more vibes solos on Elvis Presley covers. Though press materials don't credit the player, they identify Kevin Breit as the guitarist (was there any question?) on this Western Swing-flavored chart of the 1961 Doc Pomus / Mort Shuman song. Holly Cole sings it with just the right proportion of winking insinuation and hormonal rush. Corny? Sure, but music-making this slyly intelligent is enough to get a fellow all shook up.

Holly Cole: The Best of Holly Cole

by AAJ Staff
January 20, 2003

From the spare supports of the soaring “Calling You" to the lush strings of an instantly recognizable “Blame it On My Youth," Canadian chanteuse Holly Cole’s arrangements and internalized delivery make nearly every selection sing on their own and linger sweetly in the musical mind. Re-grooving Lennon and McCartney’s “I’ve Just Seen a Face" and adding a Burt Bacharach bass line to Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now," Cole takes a great song and makes it great again in ...

Holly Cole: Romantically Helpless

by Mathew Bahl
April 1, 2001

The irony of this CD title is hard to miss. Holly Cole’s confident, smoky alto might convey dark humor or cautious optimism, painful regret or self-aware neurosis, but definitely not helplessness. Ms. Cole combines the modern, post-feminist attitude of the Lilith Fair crowd with the sophistication of a pre-rock interpretative singer.

Holly Cole has always been difficult to categorize. Jazz purists have never been taken with Ms. Cole’s eagerness to embrace contemporary music forms or her tendency to subvert material ...

Holly Cole: The Best Of Holly Cole

by AAJ Staff
December 1, 2000

Holly Cole has remained an acquired taste for many listeners who like to slot artists into pre-determined categories. And that’s not quite fair. Rising in awareness and not quite acceptance among jazz enthusiasts throughout the nineties, Cole has continued to perform the tunes that intrigue her--that is, tunes with meaningful lyrics and tunes which offer opportunities for creative interpretation. The Best Of Holly Cole isn’t going to change anyone’s opinions about her. In fact, the CD retrospective of ...

Holly Cole: The Best Of Holly Cole

by Jim Santella
December 1, 2000

A sensitive, ballad project, The Best Of Holly Cole compiles selected smoky pearls from her ‘90s albums Yesterday & Today, Blame It On My Youth, Dark Dear Heart, Don’t Smoke In Bed, Temptation and It Happened One Night. Nearly half are slow, romantic numbers, while the others drive steadily with a cool detachment. Pop music sentiment and a touch of country-western charm bring Cole’s heartfelt performances closer to a rather large audience. She’s doing for today’s audience what Billie Holiday, ...