Blue Alert is a jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 album recorded by Anjani

Anjani

Anjani Thomas is an American singer-songwriter and pianist, best known for her work with singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, as well as Carl Anderson, Frank Gambale, and Stanley Clarke. She became a solo artist in 2000.-Life:...

, girlfriend and longtime backing singer of iconic Canadian singer-songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...

, who also produced the album and wrote the lyrics. Also on the production team was John Lissauer, known for having previously produced two of Cohen's albums: New Skin for the Old Ceremony

New Skin for the Old Ceremony

New Skin for the Old Ceremony is Leonard Cohen's fourth studio album. On this album, he begins to evolve away from the rawer sound of his earlier albums, with violas, mandolins, banjos, guitars, percussion and other instruments giving the album a more orchestrated sound...

(1974) and Various Positions

Various Positions

Various Positions, the seventh studio album by Leonard Cohen, was released in December 1984 . It marked not only Cohen's turn to the modern sound and use of synthesizers , but also - after her work on harmonies and background vocals on the previous Recent Songs - an even greater contribution from...

(1984).

The album was released in Canada on May 2, in USA on May 19, and in Europe on June 5, 2006, by Columbia Records. It debuted at #16 of Billboard's Top 200 Jazz Albums.

Track listing

1. "Blue Alert" – 5:39
2. "Innermost Door" – 3:16
3. "The Golden Gate" – 3:08
4. "Half the Perfect World" – 4:06
5. "Nightingale" – 3:00
6. "No One After You" – 4:09
7. "Never Got to Love You" – 4:36
8. "The Mist" – 3:08
9. "Crazy to Love You" – 4:51
10. "Thanks for the Dance" – 4:38

All songs written by Anjani Thomas (music) and Leonard Cohen (lyrics).

"Nightingale" was previously recorded by Cohen on Dear Heather

Dear Heather

Dear Heather is Leonard Cohen's eleventh studio album, released in 2004.It shows a further departure from Ten New Songs, with more female lead singing and a marked increase in read poetry over sung lyrics, two of these being poems by other writers....

. "The Mist" contains lyrical elements from "As the Mist Leaves No Scar", the same poem "True Love Leaves No Traces" is based on (see Death of a Ladies' Man

Death of a Ladies' Man

Death of a Ladies' Man is the fifth of Leonard Cohen's albums. Produced and co-written by the storied Phil Spector, it was a surprise to some fans when the voice of typically minimalist Cohen was surrounded, some critics said submerged completely, by Spector's Wall of Sound, which included multiple...

).

Personnel

• Leonard Cohen – Arranger, Producer
• Larry Corbett – Cello
• Bruce Dukov – Violin
• Danny Frankel – Drums
• Pamela Goldsmith – Viola
• Brian Leonard – Violin
• Greg Liesz – Lap Steel Guitar
• John Lissauer – Clarinet, Arranger, Keyboards, Sax (Baritone)
• Jeremy Lubbock – String Arrangements
• Lian Lunson – Photography, Video Producer, Video Director
• Stephen Marcussen – Mastering
• Michael Petit – Graphic Design, Booklet
• Ed Sanders – Producer, Engineer, Mixing

External links

• Anjani's Homepage
• Blue Alert Homepage
• Trusting the Force: Into the Heart of Blue Alert - Music Box, April 2007 (Vol. 14, #4)
• Review by Pico Iyer in Shambhala Sun Magazine