Leonard Cohen Tribute Album To Feature James Taylor, Iggy Pop
Leonard Cohen will be celebrated with a tribute album, due later this year. Here It Is: A Tribute To Leonard Cohen will be released on 14 October by Blue Note Records and is set to feature covers of Cohen songs by James Taylor, Norah Jones, Iggy Pop, Mavis Staples and more.
The first taster of the album – James Taylor’s version of Coming Back – has been shared, watch below.
“When Larry Klein invited me to participate in a Leonard Cohen tribute album, I accepted immediately,” Taylor said about the cover.
“Both because Larry is a great producer of excellent recordings and a good friend, and because, like almost everyone in my generation, I venerate Leonard Cohen. As soon as I began seeking out my own musical preferences, Cohen’s songs were among my few favorites and had a major influence on my own progression as a songwriter.”
Taylor continued, “For the project, I was drawn to a relatively obscure piece that was new to me, Coming Back To You. Larry opted to cut the song in Cohen’s original key, which was certainly at the bottom of my own range. But somehow moving me out of my comfort zone helped me find my own approach to the song. Like so much of Leonard Cohen’s writing, this lyric resonates deeply with his forlorn and hopeless take on the bleak landscape of love and attachment.”
Speaking about putting the project together, producer Klein said: “It was an immensely gratifying experience to re-contextualise these poems, and shine a different light on them.
“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.”
‘Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen’ Track List:
1. ‘Steer Your Way’ – Norah Jones
2. ‘Here It Is’ – Peter Gabriel
3. ‘Suzanne’ – Gregory Porter
4. ‘Hallelujah’ – Sarah McLachlan
5. ‘Avalanche’ – Immanuel Wilkins
6. ‘Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye’ – Luciana Souza
7. ‘Coming Back to You’ – James Taylor
8. ‘You Want It Darker’ – Iggy Pop
9. ‘If It Be Your Will’ – Mavis Staples
10. ‘Seems So Long Ago, Nancy’ – David Gray
11. ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’ – Nathaniel Rateliff
12. ‘Bird on The Wire’ – Bill Frisell