Relish Reimagined Joan Osborne

• 1 St. Teresa 04:01
• 2 Man in the Long Black Coat 06:10
• 3 Right Hand Man 04:53
• 4 Pensacola 05:06
• 5 Dracula Moon 04:32
• 6 One Of Us 05:38
• 7 Ladder 04:43
• 8 Spider Web 06:20
• 9 Help Me 04:44
• 10 Crazy Baby 06:03
• 11 Lumina 03:57
• Total Runtime 56:07

Info zu Relish Reimagined

30 years ago, a new talent emerged on the world stage, bringing counter-culture and self-assured identity to the forefront of the pop world. With Relish Reimagined, legendary singer-songwriter Joan Osborne and first-call producer/bassist Christian McBride team up for a jazz-inspired reimagining of her debut album that changed the world, backed by Marc Ribot, Nate Smith, Caelan Cardello, Renee Rosnes, Jerome Jennings and Donny McCaslin.

“My first recording of it on the original Relish brought me to Dylan’s attention, and he invited me to record a duet with him in the studio, a career highlight for me,” says Osborne. “This was one of the first tunes Christian and I worked on arranging in his basement studio, and the swinging feel he brought to it propels the tune forward as the story of the lyric unfolds, like a whole movie in one song.”

To celebrate the album’s 30th anniversary, Osborne decided to reinterpret the songs of Relish through the lens of an unexpected influence – inspired by her visit to the 2024 Newport Jazz Festival, which proved to be an eye-opening experience for a singer with an admittedly cursory familiarity with the genre. She was also impressed by McBride, then nearing the end of his decade-long run as Newport’s artistic director. “I met Christian backstage and found him to be incredibly warm, charismatic and friendly,” Osborne recalls. Already brainstorming ways to honor Relish for its upcoming 30th, she was struck by a sudden inspiration and reached out to McBride to see if he’d be interested in taking her debut album to a completely different place.

As it happened, McBride had been a fan of Relish and Osborne since the album’s initial release. On the collaboration, the revered bassist states, “If you could have told me in 1995 that I’d one day be working with Joan Osborne, you could have knocked me over with a feather. I’m honored to call Joan not just a musical partner and cohort, but a friend.”

The band that Osborne and McBride assembled for the session is a conglomeration of stellar jazz innovators, all of them well-versed in transcending stylistic boundaries. Guitarist Marc Ribot is a legend of no wave and free jazz experimentation equally renowned for his work with the likes of Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Elton John and countless others. Drummer Nate Smith, McBride’s successor at the Newport helm, is a polymath musician and producer whose work has ranged from Michael Jackson to Dave Holland to Childish Gambino to his own genre-melding band Kinfolk.

Donny McCaslin is a powerhouse tenor saxophonist whose fascination with rock and electronica led to his collaboration with David Bowie on the iconic singer’s final album, Blackstar. Pianist Renee Rosnes is widely acclaimed as a bandleader, as a sideperson with such greats as Ron Carter and Wayne Shorter, and as the founder and musical director of the jazz supergroup Artemis. Jerome Jennings is an Emmy-winning soundtrack composer as well as an in-demand drummer who has recorded with Sonny Rollins, Lakecia Benjamin, Jazzmeia Horn and Christian Sands, among others. Rising star pianist Caelen Cardello was hand-picked by Osborne after she heard him perform at Newport with fellow Juilliard alum Tyreek McDole.

Osborne and McBride worked together at the producer’s New Jersey home to conceive the basic arrangements for the new interpretations, but according to the singer-songwriter, the songs really blossomed when everyone convened in the studio. “The musicians really put the meat on the bones of our arrangements,” she says. “Since I'm not an instrumentalist, I found that the way to communicate with them was to talk about ideas and concepts, the cinematic moments that happen in each song.”

One of the primary reasons that Osborne wanted to record Relish Reimagined was the fact that she has gained three decades of perspective on these songs. The arrangements that she plays with her own touring band have evolved over that time, as has her own connection with the material as it’s been colored by experience and maturity. She’s also been confronted with the profound impact that the album has made on its fans.

“I've lived with these songs for 30 years and know them more intimately than anyone,” Osborne says, reflecting on the experience of recording Relish Reimagined. “It was amazing to be in the room with these people who are stellar players at a level that I could never hope to achieve myself and find a new understanding of the album. These sessions were so joyful for me.”

Joan Osborne, vocals
Christian McBride, double bass (1-6, 9-11), electric bass (7, 8)
Marc Ribot, guitars, electric sitar (5)
Nate Smith, drums (1, 2, 4, 5, 7-9, 11)
Caelan Cardello, piano (1, 6, 7, 9, 10), organ (3, 7, 8), electric piano (4, 5)
Renee Rosnes, electric piano (2, 3, 8), piano (11)
Jerome Jennings, drums (3, 6, 10)
Donny McCaslin, tenor saxophone (3, 9)
Justin Hicks, background vocals (3, 4, 6, 7, 11)
Audrey Martells, background vocals (3, 4, 6, 7, 11)

Recorded June 14-16, 2025 at Sear Sound in New York, NY
Engineered by Todd Whitelock
Mastering by Mark Wilder
Co-Produced by Joan Osborne
Produced by Christian McBride

Joan Osborne
was born on July 8, 1962, in the town of Anchorage, Kentucky, but it wasn't until relocating to New York City in the early '90s (to study at NYU's film school) that she began to take a singing career seriously after performing Billie Holiday's classic 'God Bless the Child' at a local bar's open-mike night. In addition to Holiday, Osborne looked to such legendary vocalists as Etta James and Ray Charles as role models, as the up-and-coming singer decided not to cater to major record companies and formed her own label, Womanly Hips, which resulted in such releases as 1992's in-concert Soul Show, among others. But eventually Osborne decided to sign on with a major label, Mercury, which in turn issued the singer's next release, Relish, in March 1995. The album proved to have a long life, as almost a year after its initial release the track 'One of Us' became a massive MTV and radio smash, camping out at the number one spot on the U.S. singles chart for two weeks, and Relish eventually racked up sales of three-million copies. Further tracks ('Right Hand Man' and 'St. Teresa') failed to match the success of Osborne's first hit, but the singer still managed to connect with a large and appreciative audience, especially after touring as part of the 1997 edition of Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair tour. Osborne also received numerous Grammy nominations in both 1996 and 1997. Producing a worthy follow-up to Relish proved to be a time-consuming challenge for Osborne. Mercury tried to buy some time by issuing a compilation release, Early Recordings (which collected the early releases Live at Delta '88 and Blue Million Miles). In the meantime, Osborne focused on supporting a few groups/causes she felt strongly about, such as Rock the Vote and Planned Parenthood (eventually being named an honorary member of Planned Parenthood's board of advocates), in addition to covering 'I'm Just a Bill' as a duet with Isaac Hayes on the 1998 Schoolhouse Rocks the Vote! benefit album. She also studied briefly with late Qawwali master Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and performed alongside such notables as Stevie Wonder, Melissa Etheridge, Taj Mahal, Luciano Pavarotti, Spearhead, Bob Dylan, and the Chieftains. September 2000 finally saw the release of Osborne's next all-new studio album, titled Righteous Love, which failed to match its predecessor's commercial success and sank from sight shortly after release. She bounced back in 2002 with How Sweet It Is, a collection of covers that leaned heavily on classic soul and R&B tunes from the '60s and '70s. A career retrospective, One of Us, followed in 2005. Vanguard picked her up shortly after this, and Osborne released her first full-length on that label, a country-tinged effort called Pretty Little Stranger, in 2006. It was followed in 2007 by Breakfast in Bed and in 2008 by Little Wild One. After a break of three years, Osborne re-entered a recording studio with her road band and co-producer Jack Petruzzelli. They emerged with a raw, wooly collection of classic blues and R&B covers entitled Bring It on Home; it was released in the spring of 2012. She took more direct control over her next release, Love & Hate. Osborne and Petruzzelli re-teamed for co-production duties, but this time she but wrote or co-wrote every song. The album was released in the spring of 2014. (Greg Prato)

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