美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Something To Hold': Why This Self-Produced Jazz Singer Made A Physical CD In 2019

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Judy Wexler appears in clubs around Los Angeles, gets occasional radio play and, like many singers, puts it out on her own record label. Every few years, she puts together an album and releases it on CD.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CROWDED HEART")

JUDY WEXLER: (Singing) Clouded moon, upon a star, the sky (ph).

SIMON: Judy Wexler is a friend of NPR special correspondent Susan Stamberg, who got to wondering why in this age of streaming Judy went to all the trouble and expense of having CDs manufactured. Here's the story.

SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE¹: The album's title song, "Crowded Heart," is a sinuous², sexy, hard-to-sing lament³ from a woman breaking up with her married lover.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CROWDED HEART")

WEXLER: (Singing) Never spring, as long as he wears that golden rain that comes between us. How will I win his heart when I know it's wrong to sing this song with its bittersweet melody (ph)?

STAMBERG: It's a gorgeous song by Danish jazz singer-songwriter Sinne Eeg and Mads Mathias. The song is new but sounds old, as if it's been around forever. Judy Wexler says that's the point of everything on her CD.

WEXLER: It's jazz standards for the 21st century.

STAMBERG: She's always looking for new songs to sing, loves the oldies, gems⁴ in what's called "The Great American Songbook."

WEXLER: They were beautifully all constructed, and they were mostly from '30s, '40s. And while they're brilliant and wonderful, there's only so many versions of them that one can do.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TAKE MY BREATH AWAY")

WEXLER: (Singing) And down over me. Hold tight. Set me free (ph).

STAMBERG: And so this collection, her fifth CD of songs written in the last 10 or so years, songs that could be around for decades. Recording⁵ them, she hopes other singers will take them up. That's how a song becomes a standard.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

WEXLER: (Singing) Come into my parlor⁶.

STAMBERG: It took Judy Wexler a year and a half to make the CD. Finding then choosing the songs took the most time. She reached out to lots of jazz songwriters for suggestions.

WEXLER: I told them what my concept was. It should sound like a standard. What do you have?

STAMBERG: Jazz journalists had ideas, too. They listen to everything. So did her co-producer and longtime arranger Alan Pasqua. Once she had a song list, Judy wanted to start recording.

WEXLER: I knew I wanted to start a crowdfunding for it. I decided⁷ that I would just finance half of the CD and just do it.

STAMBERG: That way, possible funders would have something to hear. And hopefully, they'd write checks.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE LAST GOODBYE")

WEXLER: (Singing) I passed by the house just today. It seems to have something to say. The gates were all worn. And the pathway was torn. And yet, I still hoped you'd be there (ph).

STAMBERG: The band assembled, all friends she'd worked with before, and they recorded five songs - just one or two takes. A videographer shot the session, and Judy posted excerpts⁸ on social media to launch the crowdfunding. What did that first session cost her?

WEXLER: Well, I'm kind of in denial in that (laughter) I haven't quite figured out the number.

STAMBERG: More than $5,000, she thinks. And how much for all 10 songs, more sessions, audio engineers, photos, the jacket - the whole project?

WEXLER: Maybe cost the amount of an economy car. You know, (laughter) I don't know.

STAMBERG: She knows other self-produced musicians who've spent more.

WEXLER: Seventy-five thousand, a hundred thousand, a hundred fifty thousand, you know, using a big band with a name.

STAMBERG: And why, in this universe of low-cost streaming, would a musician want to spend that kind of money, work that hard in a dying format⁹? And why would music fans want to put out cash for a CD? Judy says the reasons are similar for both groups.

WEXLER: I think there's a lot of people who still want something to hold. They can open up. They can look at the artwork. They can read the liner notes. They can see the personnel.

STAMBERG: You can't usually do that with streaming. And from the artists' point of view...

WEXLER: You just have to have something of yours that you can hold on to that represents the work you did.

STAMBERG: Comedian¹⁰ Fred Allen once said radio was as lasting¹¹ as a butterfly's cough. Maybe that's true for unrecorded musicians, too. With CDs, they can have something permanent, please their fans and maybe earn back some of their cost selling CDs at gigs.

WEXLER: Trickle¹² by trickle by trickle.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CIRCUS LIFE")

WEXLER: (Singing) Day and night, day and night.

STAMBERG: If you're lucky, your CD gets radio play, which governed Judy's choice to begin the album with this upbeat song.

WEXLER: For radio, when you send your CD out to these various music directors across the country, they pop it in, and I'm not sure how many seconds of each track they listen to. But the first track is going to be pretty important, so I wanted to make sure it was something that radio would respond to.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CIRCUS LIFE")

WEXLER: (Singing) Day and night, day and night in the circus life, in the circus life.

STAMBERG: Well, radio listeners, there you have it, the how, what and why of making Judy Wexler's new CD, "Crowded Heart." In Washington, tapping my foot, Susan Stamberg, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CIRCUS LIFE")

WEXLER: (Singing) Day and night, day and night in the circus life.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 sinuous   

adj.蜿蜒的，迂回的

参考例句：

• The river wound its sinuous way across the plain.这条河蜿蜒曲折地流过平原。
• We moved along the sinuous gravel walks,with the great concourse of girls and boys.我们沿着曲折的石径,随着男孩女孩汇成的巨流一路走去。

3 lament   

n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹

参考例句：

• Her face showed lament.她的脸上露出悲伤的样子。
• We lament the dead.我们哀悼死者。

4 gems   

growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长

参考例句：

• a crown studded with gems 镶有宝石的皇冠
• The apt citations and poetic gems have adorned his speeches. 贴切的引语和珠玑般的诗句为他的演说词增添文采。

5 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

6 parlor   

n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅

参考例句：

• She was lying on a small settee in the parlor.她躺在客厅的一张小长椅上。
• Is there a pizza parlor in the neighborhood?附近有没有比萨店？

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 excerpts   

n.摘录，摘要( excerpt的名词复数 )；节选（音乐，电影）片段

参考例句：

• Some excerpts from a Renaissance mass are spatchcocked into Gluck's pallid Don Juan music. 一些文艺复光时期的弥撒的选节被不适当地加入到了格鲁克平淡无味的唐璜音乐中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is editing together excerpts of some of his films. 他正在将自己制作的一些电影的片断进行剪辑合成。 来自辞典例句

9 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

10 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

11 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

12 trickle   

vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散

参考例句：

• The stream has thinned down to a mere trickle.这条小河变成细流了。
• The flood of cars has now slowed to a trickle.汹涌的车流现在已经变得稀稀拉拉。