Rendezvous With Marlene

by Ute Lemper

Overview

In 1988, a 24-year-old Ute Lemper, living in Paris, received a phone call from longtime Parisian, Marlene Dietrich. It was in response to a postcard sent by Lemper, who had won the French Moliere Prize for her star-making role as Sally Bowles in Cabaret. Lemper apologized for the press comparisons between them. Dietrich, 87, was by then a recluse, her only connection to the world a telephone line. That call lasted three hours. Dietrich regaled Lemper with stories from her life: of her work and lovers, her estranged daughter, Rilke's poetry, her hatred of Hitler, and her continuing grief and longing for the Weimar Republic. During the war Dietrich housed refugees, helped create a fund to assist escaping Jews and dissidents, performed near the front lines, and provided personal financial support. Moved by Dietrich's epic life, Lemper resolved to tell it from the star's point of view. She created Rendezvous with Marlene as a show with monologues and songs about what she knew from the call and research of Dietrich's career. This release reproduces the touring show's music, impeccably recorded in a studio with a string orchestra and Vana Gierig's jazz quartet. While Lemper thoroughly channels Dietrich's aesthetic spirit, she is always herself musically. She opens with a bluesy, sultry reading of Johnny Mercer's and Harold Arlen's "One More for My Baby," cut by Dietrich in 1954. Lemper offers her theatricality with her own provocative phrasing. The performance of "Naughty Lola" is one for the books given Lemper's commanding use of scat singing and vocalese. Dietrich recorded her own charting cover of Bob Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind" in German; Lemper delivers it bilingually with halting strings, muted percussion, and sparse piano. She also delivers wonderful versions of two iconic Friedrich Hollaender songs, "The Ruins of Berlin" and "Want to Buy Some Illusions" that Dietrich sang in the film A Foreign Affair in 1948. Pete Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" is here because Dietrich cut it in thunderous applause; Lemper's bilingual performance is dignified and questioning. Her version of "Just a Gigolo" (Dietrich sang it with David Bowie in 1978 in her final film role) is filled with regret and acceptance. Hollaender's "Falling in Love Again" is Dietrich's most famous song. After singing it in Blau Engel in German, she recorded it in English in 1937 as a metaphor to renounce her German citizenship. Lemper's take is sublime: Bold and jazzy, she juxtaposes the erotic flush of new romance with a resolve to abandon the past. Also included are seminal French songs, including fine readings of Charles Trenet's "Que Reste-t-il de Nos Amour" and the classic "Dejeuner de Matin" by Joseph Kosma and Jacques Prevert, rendered with the pained beauty of classic chanson that both Lemper and Dietrich revered. Rendezvous with Marlene concludes with five beautifully rendered German songs reflecting Lemper's homage to Dietrich, as well as their kinship as expatriates and. This is one of Lemper's finest moments. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	05/22/2020
Label:	Jazzhaus
UPC:	4260075861869

Tracks

1. One for My Baby
2. Lili Marleen
3. They Call Me Naughty Lola
4. Blowing in the Wind
5. Marie, Marie
6. Ruins of Berlin
7. Und Wenn Er Wiederkommt
8. When the World Was Young
9. Wenn Ich Mir Was W¿¿nschen Duerfte
10. Want to Buy Some Illusions
11. Que Reste-t-il De Nos Amour
12. The Laziest Gal in Town
13. Where Have All the Flowers Gone
14. Just a Gigolo
15. Falling in Love Again
16. Ich Hab' Noch Einen Koffer in Berlin
17. Allein in Einer Gro¿¿en Stadt
18. Dejeuner de Matin
19. Wenn Der Sommer Wieder Einzieht
20. Sch..., Kleines Baby

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Ute Lemper   Primary Artist
Solveig Nordmeyer   Viloncello
Sebastian Dozler   Viloncello
Robert Olisa Nzekwu   Violin
Martin Edelmann   Viola
Damir Orascanin   Violin
Aileen Dullagahn   Violin
Anais Tamisier   Violin
Cyril Garac   Violin
Matthew Parrish   Bass
Werner Stranka   Orchestra
Aaron Heick   Saxophone
Tim Ouimette   Trumpet,Flugelhorn
David Amlen   Band
Todd Turkisher   Drums
Gary Schreiner   Accordion
Martin Gellner   Conductor,Orchestra
Jonas Krejci   Viloncello
Werner "Vana" Gierig   Piano,Keyboards
Raphael Handschuh   Viola
Diane Pascal   Violin
Simon Schellnegger   Viola
Emily Stewart   Violin
Annette Mittendorfer   Violin
Rusanda Panfili   Violin
Marie Spaemann   Viloncello
Marianna Oczkowska   Violin
Lena Fankhauser   Viola
Ulrike Greuter   Violin

Technical Credits

Josefine Riedl   Assistant Engineer
Giampaolo Sgura   Photography
Philippe Gerard   Composer
Max Kolpe   Composer
Joseph Kosma   Composer
Harold Arlen   Composer
Bob Dylan   Composer
Cole Porter   Composer
Jacques Prevert   Composer
James Cavanaugh   Composer
Ute Lemper   Producer
Frank Weldon   Composer
Franz Waxman   Composer
Charles Trenet   Composer
Leonello Casucci   Composer
Dick Robertson   Composer
Johnny Mercer   Composer
Pete Seeger   Composer
Julius Brammer   Composer
Reginald Connelly   Composer
Werner Stranka   Mixing,String Arrangements
David Amlen   Vocal Engineer
Hans Leip   Composer
Dave Alvin   Composer
Friedrich Hollaender   Composer
Irving Caesar   Composer
Norbert Schultze   Composer
Martin Gellner   Mixing,String Arrangements
Maurice Maeterlinck   Composer
Ralph Siegel   Composer
Leo Chauliac   Composer
Dietz Tinhof   Mixing
Max Colpet   Composer
Aldo Von Pinelli   Composer
Angele Vannier   Composer
Martin Scheer   Mastering
Bernd Mazagg   Engineer
Marc Raner   Package Design
Charl Kroeger   Package Design
Andreas Reimann   Graphic Design
Max + Mara   Design
Roland Tscherne   Assistant Engineer