Episode 33: Fredara Hadley on Anita Baker’s “Compositions” (1990)

Episode notes

The album: Anita Baker: Compositions (1990)

Ethnomusicologist Fredara Hadley had been on our wish list for a while and as luck would have it, she came to Los Angeles earlier this spring and things lined up nicely. For our episode, Fredara wanted to get into the queen of the quiet storm from the 1980s and early ‘90s: Anita Baker and her platinum-selling 1990 album, Compositions. During our conversation, we got into the nuances of Baker’s voice and how she compelled your full attention, how she fit (or didn’t) with the sound of R&B in the early ‘90s and how, as successful as she was, she could have thrived even better in an era where jazz and R&B overlap is better embraced.

More on Compositions

• “Five Best Songs” from Compositions (TheBoombox.com)
• Dennis Hunt’s original 1990 review (LA Times)
• “Inside the Album” episode on Compositions (GrownFolksMusic.com)

More on Fredara Hadley

• A profile of “the music historian” (Essence)
• Interviewed by the Oberlin Review
• Website | Twitter |Mixcloud

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Compositions unless indicated otherwise):

• “Talk To Me”
• Anita Baker: Rapture “Sweet Love”
• “Fairy Tales”
• Peabo Bryson: Crosswinds “Crosswinds”
• “More Thank You Know”
• Mariah Carey: Mariah Carey “Vision of Love”
• Lisa Stansfeild: Been Around The World “Been Around The World”
• En Vogue:Born To Sing “Hold On To Your Love”
• “Look What I Got”
• Drake: Comeback Season “Think Good Thoughts Feat. Phonte and Elzhi”
• Perri: <i<Celebrate “Airstream”</i<celebrate
• “Perfect Love Affair”
• “Love You To The Letter”
• “Feel The Need”
• “Whatever It Takes”
• “No One To Blame”
• Jill Scott: The Light of the Sun “Hear My Call”
• “Lonely”

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