The Best of Ruth Jacott (2004.)

During my "Amsterdam years" 1999-2004 I often enjoyed bar-hopping with friends and it was not in trendy places but in humpty-dumpty local pubs that I learned my dutch pop music repertoire. You see,foreign visitors often end up in trendy places with international clientele and these places prefer to build up a new agey, trance ambience as they think this would give them "cool" atmosphere - same everywhere,I believe - young crowd always looks down upon local music as unhip. But the real spirit of Amsterdam lies in a small local pubs, often on the street corners and decorated with intentionally kitschy displays of royal family photos, portraits of celebrities and such - these places are great fun,attract local people who have no pretensions and simply want to share a beer with friends. Here they would play old disco hits, singalong to "Abba" and old Eurovision songs, dance to 1970s and 1980s hits and everybody gets completely swept away in drunken excitement - once I remember a middle-aged man enjoying himself so much that he jumped on a bar chair and danced to Doris Day's "Que sera,sera" - typical night out in a local pub. It was in these pubs that I learned about dutch pop music - its mostly "schlager" music that basically balances between sentimental and high-energy dance so beloved locally. Once you get over the guttural sound of the language, some of the stuff is quite entertaining though there is only one name that I really love and its Ruth Jacott.

Ruth Jacott was born in Suriname and moved to The Netherlands when she was 17 - made herself a well-known name in musical theatre work ( I actually have recording of the show called "A Night At The Cotton Club" that was a tribute to Jazz age of 1920s and 1930s) before successfully moving to big-time pop with some incredibly catchy hits and well-produced albums that easily stand next to current international production without sounding dated or provincial - along with strong and memorable melodies her music is graced with strong vocals as she possesses one of the best voices in dutch pop music, deep soulful alto that comes straight from the heart and is apparently versatile in any music genre you can possibly think of. I mean,this woman can sing "Stormy Weather" and Billie Holiday Jazz classics and than turn to Bossa Nova, Nina Simone, Supremes or Tina Turner without missing a beat (in addition to her pop hit songbook) and she does sound excellent in the studio recordings - it must have been thrilling to hear her live because from experience I know that many singers can't successfully transfer the magic of live performances into cold studio surroundings.

As a foreigner I find music & voice of Ruth Jacott the best and the most interesting of everything I have heard on dutch pop scene. Though she often performs as duet partner and special guest on high profile gala concerts, for me her voice and charisma by far overshadow everybody else, she is that good. This 2004. compilation collects her best work up to that point and is highly recommended to anyone interested in the best of international music scene.