Dreams and Daggers is an album by American jazz singer Cécile McLorin Salvant that includes songs recorded both during live performance and in the studio. The album was released as a set of two CDs or three LPs on Mack Avenue Records on September 29, 2017.^[4]

Reception

AllMusic reviewer Matt Collar described the album as "a thoughtfully curated selection of standards and several originals, all touching upon the themes of romance and heartbreak", and awarded it five stars.^[1]

Stereophile reviewer Fred Kaplan declared the album to be "the best jazz vocal album in a decade, maybe in longer than that."^[5]

The album earned Salvant her third Grammy nomination and her second Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album.^[6] The album was also nominated for the 2018 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album.^[7]

Track listing

Source:^[8]

Disc 1
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"And Yet" (*)	Cécile McLorin Salvant	Paul Sikivie	1:06
2.	"Devil May Care"	Bob Dorough Terrell P. Kirk, Jr.	Bob Dorough Terrell P. Kirk, Jr.	6:56
3.	"Mad About the Boy"	Noël Coward	Noël Coward	6:53
4.	"Sam Jones' Blues"	Al Bernard J. Russel Robinson Roy Turk	Al Bernard J. Russel Robinson Roy Turk	3:00
5.	"More" (*)	Cécile McLorin Salvant	Cécile McLorin Salvant	3:33
6.	"Never Will I Marry"	Frank Loesser	Frank Loesser	4:03
7.	"Somehow I Could Never Believe"	Langston Hughes	Kurt Weill	9:56
8.	"If a Girl Isn't Pretty"	Bob Merrill	Jule Styne	2:55
9.	"Red Instead" (*)	Cécile McLorin Salvant	Cécile McLorin Salvant	0:34
10.	"Runnin' Wild"	Arthur Gibbs Joe Grey Leo Wood	Arthur Gibbs Joe Grey Leo Wood	1:39
11.	"The Best Thing for You (Would Be Me)"	Irving Berlin	Irving Berlin	7:08

Disc 2
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
12.	"You're My Thrill" (*)	Sidney Clare	Jay Gorney	4:34
13.	"I Didn't Know What Time It Was"	Lorenz Hart	Richard Rodgers	6:29
14.	"Tell Me What They're Saying Can't Be True"	Buddy Johnson	Buddy Johnson	5:29
15.	"Nothing Like You"	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	3:49
16.	"You've Got to Give Me Some"	Spencer Williams	Spencer Williams	6:11
17.	"The Worm" (*)	Cécile McLorin Salvant	Paul Sikivie	1:03
18.	"My Man's Gone Now"	Ira Gershwin DuBose Heyward	George Gershwin	6:27
19.	"Let's Face the Music and Dance"	Irving Berlin	Irving Berlin	6:55
20.	"Si j'etais Blanche"	Bobby Falk Leo Lelièvre Henri Varna	Bobby Falk Leo Lelièvre Henri Varna	5:14
21.	"Fascination" (*)	Langston Hughes (poem)	Cécile McLorin Salvant Paul Sikivie	1:27
22.	"Wild Women Don't Have the Blues"	Ida Cox	Ida Cox	6:50
23.	"You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me"	Al Dubin	Harry Warren	9:53

Tracks marked with asterisk (*) recorded in studio at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music. All other tracks recorded live at the Village Vanguard.

Personnel

Source:^[8]

Cécile McLorin Salvant – vocals
Aaron Diehl – piano on all tracks except "Red Instead", "You've Got to Give Me Some" and "Fascination"
Sullivan Fortner – piano on "You've Got to Give Me Some"
Paul Sikivie – double bass on all tracks except "Red Instead", "You've Got to Give Me Some" and "Fascination"; string arrangement on "And Yet", "More", "Red Instead", "You're My Thrill", "The Worm" and "Fascination"
Lawrence Leathers – drums on all tracks except "Red Instead", "You've Got to Give Me Some" and "Fascination"
Catalyst Quartet – strings on "And Yet", "More", "Red Instead", "You're My Thrill", "The Worm" and "Fascination"
- Karla Donehew-Perez – violin
- Suliman Tekalli – violin
- Paul Laraia – viola
- Karlos Rodriguez – cello

Production

Al Pryor – production
Cecile McLorin Salvant – production; booklet art direction, handwriting and illustrations
Gretchen Valade – executive production
Will Wakefield – production management
Damon Whittemore – record engineering
Todd Whitelock – record engineering, mix engineering
Josh Welshman – engineering assistance
Isaiah Abolin – engineering assistance
Akihiro Nishimura – engineering assistance
Doug Iszlai – engineering assistance
Allen Rubinstein – front-of-house engineering for the Village Vanguard
Richie Clarke – front-of-house engineering consultancy for Mack Avenue Records
Mark Wilder – master engineering
Kevin Gray – LP cut engineering
Raj Naik – booklet layout and design
Mark Fitton – booklet photography
Maria Ehrenreich – creative services and production
Sharon Green – product management

Charts

Chart (2018)	Peak position
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)^[9]	40

References

^ ^a ^b "Cécile McLorin Salvant Dreams and Daggers". AllMusic, member of the RhythmOne group. Archived from the original on 10 September 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
^ "Cécile McLorin Salvant: Dreams and Daggers review – awe-inspiringly audacious jazz reworking". Guardian News and Media Limited. 20 November 2017. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
^ "Cécile McLorin Salvant's "Dreams and Daggers" Live at The Village Vanguard". AnalogPlanet; TEN: The Enthusiast Network. 19 September 2017. Archived from the original on 30 September 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
^ "Cécile McLorin Salvant Dreams and Daggers". Mack Avenue Records. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
^ "Cecile McLorin Salvant, Dreams and Daggers". Stereophile; TEN: The Enthusiast Network. 19 September 2017. Archived from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
^ "2018 GRAMMY Awards: Complete Winners List". Grammy.com. 29 January 2018. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
^ "Nominees Announced for 49th NAACP Image Awards". NAACP. 28 September 2017. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
^ ^a ^b Dreams and Daggers (booklet). Cécile McLorin Salvant. Grosse Pointe Farms, MI: Mack Avenue Records. 2017.((cite AV media notes)): CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^ "NZ Top 40 Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. March 19, 2018. Archived from the original on March 16, 2018. Retrieved March 16, 2018.

v t e Cécile McLorin Salvant
Albums	Cécile & the Jean-François Bonnel Paris Quintet For One to Love Dreams and Daggers The Window Ghost Song Mélusine
Appearances	Gouache Big Band Holidays