— Robert Christgau, reviewing Red Hot + Blue, on p. 271 of his Christgau Consumer Guide: Albums of the ‘90s. This tribute album, which features c.1990 pop performers re-interpreting Cole Porter songs, relates to my previous post concerning aesthetics and Maria Schneider. “Trashing history while you honor it”; conceptually this could just as likely lead to crap as quality. But the proof of its validity is in the pudding–Red Hot + Blue beats dozens of albums I’ve sat through by the more accomplished and educated jazz divas of the last forty years. It’s garish, novel, exciting, sometimes crude, and the words matter, not just as content, but as sound and play. Would Mr. Porter like these interpretations, or would he prefer the more sanctimonious alternative? I don’t know. That’s a topic worth investigating.