Released1995 LanguageEnglish Release date1995 LabelWarner Bros. Records
Length57:02 ArtistMichael Franks ProducerGil Goldstein GenresSmooth jazz, Vocal jazz
Abandoned Garden
(1995)The Best of Michael Franks A Backward Glance
(1998) SimilarMichael Franks albums, Other albums
Michael franks abandoned garden full album 1995
Abandoned Garden is a smooth vocal jazz album by American singer-songwriter and musician Michael Franks. Released in 1995 with Warner Bros. Records, it was Franks' thirteenth studio album, and his final album of new material with Warner Bros.
The album is a dedication to the memory of Brazilian jazz musician, singer and composer Antônio Carlos Jobim. Franks had drawn artistic inspiration throughout his career from Jobim, and had collaborated with him in the past.
"Somehow Our Love Survives" marked the return of keyboardist and lyricist Joe Sample, with whom Franks had collaborated with on numerous albums previously, including Sleeping Gypsy in 1977 and Blue Pacific in 1990.
Musicians
Michael Franks – vocals, guitar, banjo
Brian Mitchell – vocals
Jeff Mironov – guitar, acoustic guitar
Chuck Loeb – guitar
John Leventhal – electric guitar
Diane Barere, Mark Orrin Shuman, Frederick Slotkin – cello
Bob Mintzer – flute, alto flute
Lawrence Feldman – alto flute
Manolo Badrena – woodwinds, percussion
Joshua Redman – soprano saxophone
David Sanborn, Andy Snitzer – alto saxophone
Michael Brecker – tenor saxophone
Randy Brecker – flugelhorn
Keith O'Quinn – trombone
Eliane Elias, Russell Ferrante, Gil GoldsteinBob James, Carla Bley – piano
Peter Erskine – drums, percussion
Chris Parker, Lewis Nash – drums
Don Alias, Bashiri Johnson – percussion
Support
Jimmy Haslip, Michael Colina, Russell Ferrante – arrangement
James Farber – audio mixer
Ken Schles, Fredrick Nilsen – photography
Recording at Bearsville Studios, Clinton, Make Believe Ballroom, Power Station, Sound on Sound
Reception
Reaction to Abandoned Garden was mixed.
Writing for AllMusic, Ross Boissoneau praised the input of "heavy hitters", but lamented it was "neither Franks' best effort nor particularly evocative of the great Brazilian composer" the album was dedicated to. He concluded "while the revolving door of stars has served Franks well on other recordings, here they don't seem to add up to much."
The jazz/blues Down Beat magazine rated the album "good" in their March 1996 issue, reporting it to be "a genuine keeper, a guilty pleasure. Somehow Franks, a song stylist more than a jazz vocalist, once again gets his way, singing his indelible melodies that before you know it are under your skin, into your veins and etched into your soul..."
Songs
1This Must Be Paradise6:11 2Like Water - Like Wind5:19 3A Fool's Errand4:37