10年以上にわたるロマンティックな3部作の集大成として、ジュノー賞を2度受賞したダイアナ・パントンの10枚目のアルバムです。この3部作は、『PINK』（2009年カナダでジュノー賞ノミネート、日本でシルバーディスク賞受賞）に始まり、『RED』（2015年ジュノー賞受賞）、そして今回高い評価を得た『BLUE』へと続きます。同名のカラーは、恋愛の感情の弧を象徴的に示唆しており、PINKは初恋の恋心、REDは真実の愛の情熱、BLUEは失った愛の傷心と神秘を表しています。パントンが特別なのは、彼女自身であることです。彼女のリラックスした、遊び心にあふれた人柄が、その優れた声質を通して感じられるのです。彼女には、ユニークで魔法のようなクオリティがあります

【演奏】
ダイアナ・パントン：vocal
ドン・トンプソン：bass
レグ・シュワガー：piano
フィル・ドワイヤー：saxophone
ジム・ヴィヴィアン：bass

ペンデレツキ・ストリング・カルテット:
ヤージー・カプラネック：violin
ジェレミー・ベル：violin
クリスティン・ウィワージク：viola
ケイティ・シュライクジャー：cello

The culminating trilogy of romance spanning more than a decade, this is two-time Juno Award winner Diana Panton’s 10th album. The trilogy began with PINK (2009 Juno nominee in Canada and Silver Disc Award winner in Japan), followed by RED (2015 Juno winner) and now the highly acclaimed BLUE. The eponymous colours symbolically suggest the emotional arc of a relationship; PINK being the infatuation of first-time love, RED, the passion of true love, and BLUE, the heartbreak and mystery of love lost. What makes Panton special is that she's herself. You feel her relaxed, playful personality throughout the quality of her remarkable voice. She has a unique, magical quality
REVIEWS:

Diana Panton is one of my favourite jazz singers of the new generation. Her vulnerable, gentle voice has peacefully coaxed me to fall in love with her singing. In addition, the high-quality sound of her recordings, both detailed and exquisite, is superior to many so-called "audiophile" CDs.
Hong Kong's HiFi Review Magazine
Her vocal style combines a light, buoyant lilt with immaculate phrasing, an authoritative delivery and a convincing ability to portray the emotions of the lyrics’ protagonists.
Bobby Reed, Editor's Pick, DownBeat
If the expression "the art of interpretation" has ever applied, then it does here. Expressiveness, paired with a voice that is nuanced with top notch jazz inflections, gives us a vocalist that ranks among the greatest young chanteuses of our time. Volker Doberstein, tonart magazine, Germany
What makes Panton special is that she's herself. You feel her relaxed, playful personality throughout, and the quality of her voice is remarkable. [...] A voice that's as gentle as a doe but smart as a fox. Brava!
Marc Myers, JazzWax
I’ve worked with some of the best singers of all time and Diana is, in her way, as good as any of them. She can communicate to the listener in a way very few people can. She never puts herself in front of the music. Her priorities are pretty simple. She simply wants to create something beautiful.
Don Thompson, Cadence Magazine interview by Randy L. Smith
... the gloriously gifted Diana Panton has quietly developed into one of Canada's premiere jazz vocalists.
TIm Perlich, CBC blogpost
It is truly a special treat to work with someone of Diana's artistry, natural jazz proclivities and professional business practices. Never mind the fact that our audiences `eat her up' live and then buy her recordings like crazy! Both of her northern visits celebrated over-sold shows.
Duncan Sinclair, President of Jazz Yukon
She brings to each song that perfect combination of words and music – words so naturally phrased they seem as easy as conversation, music so deliciously supported and coloured by a voice that can do whatever it wishes to express the deepest emotions.
Hugh Fraser, Hamilton Spectator
Panton does, indeed, have a delightfully sweet (though never cloying) sound, a tonal purity that is arrestingly beautiful.
Christopher Loudon, JazzTimes Magazine
Among the many new vocal stars on the jazz scene today, Diana Panton has special charms.
Kazutomi Aoki, Japan’sJAZZLIFE
… I’d like to nominate Diana Panton as Canada’s jazz sweetheart.
Cathy Riches, WholeNote Magazine
[listening to Diana sing] I got the same feeling the first time I heard singers like Sheila [Jordan], Lee Wiley (at the 1954 Newport Jazz Festival), Helen Merrill and Irene Kral.
Len Dobbin, “Masterworks”Award for radio
Diana […] has a keen sense of lyrics and her expressiveness is very engaging. She is comfortable in her own skin and has her own style - that was clear at her show.
Keizo Takada, Jazz Japan Tokyo Cotton Club review
Apt comparisons include Peggy Lee, Lee Wiley, or Blossom Dearie, singers who showed how less can indeed be more in creating an emotional impact. Diana does the same with quiet intensity, subtle swing, nuance, natural musicality, reliable intonation, and a singular purity of voice. (As to the last point, Jo Stafford springs to mind.)
Randy L. Smith, Jazz Journal, UK
Diana Panton has a magical quality. Her voice and singing are charming and romantic, yet never too sweet and she sometimes even sounds divine.
Shouji Ichikawa, Japan's CD JOURNAL
Diana Panton’s gifted voice has a direct penetrating power, full of an emotional conviction that her contemporaries lack. The combination of her ethereal and graceful singing skill, appealingly luscious voice and her ability to deliver the lyrics as a storyteller make Diana Panton simply irresistible.
Rui-Feng Hong, Taiwan’s Audio Art Magazine
The finely crafted music is consistently plush and shimmering, listenable and soothing yet still graced by impeccable jazz qualities and details.
Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen
To all of her material, Panton brings admirable sincerity, and she sings with a soft and gentle vocal sound, excellent diction and a light sense of swing. She clearly loves the music she performs and is well served in all that she does by Don Thompson and Reg Schwager, both of whom support the singer admirably.
Bruce Crowther UK's Jazz Journal

TECHNICAL INFORMATION:
The 2xHD proprietary mastering provides a unique listening experience as the process digs deep in original recordings to bring out all hidden information, without altering the music in any way, uncovering and bringing out nuances, warmth, depth of field and even the air around the musicians.

The 2xHD logo on an album cover indicates that the recording was carefully selected and the high-resolution mastering was done using the 2xHD process. Created by producer/studio owner André Perry and prize-winning audiophile sound engineer René Laflamme in collaboration with several high-end audio equipment manufacturers, the 2xHD music remastering system combines the best of vintage analog with state-of-the-art DSD and DXD digital technology – a ‘Back to the Future’ approach. Each musical project is treated with individual attention to the selection of equipment.
Some of the top flight gear used in the process includes a selection of cutting-edge A/D and D/A converters to obtain the most natural DSD or PCM sound, such as a NAGRA-T tape recorder - modified with all tubes playback electronics (With its four direct drive motors and the tape sensor head, The NAGRA-T is one of the best transports ever made), a modified vacuum tube NAGRA HD dac (DSD) to make it possible to obtain real analog sound from a digital master and in some cases even battery power is used so as to benefit from the cleanest power source possible. The 2XHD FUSION mastering system is powered by super capacitor power supplies with new technology that lowers the digital noise which is heard in the lowest levels, something that was not possible before. The resulting signal is then transformed to high resolution formats by recording it in DSD 256 kHz using the Merging Technologies’ Horus A to D converter - which is also powered by a super capacitor power supply. All analog and digital cables are the finest state-of-the-art available today. Also used in the process are Pyramix Masscore (records all high-resolution formats, allowing for great flexibility), an Atomic Clock for re-clocking, and Siltech & Shunyata cables (all digital and analog cables are reduced to a minimum optimal length in the digital conversion and mastering system). The particular open sound and feeling of having no ceiling to the music are obtained through the 2xHD high resolution transfer. In the case of an original analog master tapes, transfer to DSD 256. In the case of an original 96/24 or DXD/DSD master, transfer is made to analogue using cutting edge D/A converters.

2xHD is an accurate and musical mastering system, earning recognition from peers and from the specialized trade publications around the world.