It was Marianne’s great version of ‘Ballad Of The Soldier’s Wife’ for Hal Willner’s Lost In The Stars tribute to Kurt Weill that planted the seed for the 20th Century Blues album. Originally, Willner suggest the two of them record a whole album of songs from the Brecht Weill catalogue, and while that idea never came to fruition, it did inspire the superb Strange Weather LP that they recorded together in 1987.
Ten years later, Marianne decided to produce an album herself that would cover her favourite Brecht/Weill songs and some other selections from the era of the Weimar Republic. She first unveiled her Brecht/Weill show at The Brooklyn Academy Of Music in 1995 and the success of that performance led Marianne to take it on the road. Sold-out shows and rave reviews across the globe followed and the Paris date at The New Morning club was recorded. The bulk of 20th Century Blues is made up of from that show with additional tracks recorded live at Wessex Studios in London.
Accompanied by only pianist Paul Trueblood and bassist Chuchow, Marianne’s affinity for cabaret is clearly audible throughout the show and her voice feels tailor-made for the material, particularly the Marlene Dietrich songs by Friedrich Hollaender. Her reading of ‘Illusions’ written for the 1948 film A Foreign Affair, is on a par with the original as is her stunning reading of ‘Falling In Love Again’, from Dietrich’s 1929 breakthrough film, The Blue Angel.
