The acclaimed vocalist Natalie Douglas discusses her new album Back to the Garden (Club44, 2024), with Joseph Planta.

Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

Natalie Douglas joins me now. The acclaimed chanteuse has just released a new album, Back to the Garden. It’s a collection of golden age standards, pop gems from the Woodstock generation, with surprises along the way; all songs that demonstrate the vast range of Douglas’s talents as a singer, performer, and interpreter of song. There are new big band arrangements of Cole Porter’s “Begin the Beguine,” a tender version of the ballad “You’ll Never Know,” as well as a new take on the song “Who?” A rare song, “He Lives in a World of His Own,” written for Shirley Bassey by Lionel Bart, is on the album, and it’s just delightful to hear it for once, but also to wonder what might have been.  There’s also a rock-inspired interpretation of Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock,” as well as a soaring anthem written just for Natalie by the founders of the Club44 label, who release this album, Wayne Haun and Joel Lindsay, “Love is the Power that Heals Me.” I’ll ask Ms. Douglas about this album, the songs therein, and the craft of performing before a live audience as she does. We’ll also talk about the incredible research Natalie does for her popular shows, which she performs around the world, and at her home base, New York City’s legendary Birdland Jazz Club. She is an expert instructor at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, the Sullivan Foundation, and the Mabel Mercer Foundation. Visit www.NatalieDouglas.com for more. We spoke nearly one month ago. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Natalie Douglas; Ms. Douglas, good morning.

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