"Love Wins Again:" New Album From Janiva Magness

This article was first published at Blogcritics

Probably best known as an award winning blues singer, the dynamic Janiva Magness releases her twelfth album, a highly personal emotional manifesto she calls Love Wins Again, in April. As she asserts quite clearly at the end of her liner note: “This record is me celebrating happy.” Celebration indeed: the album’s 11 tunes, several written by Magness and the record’s producer Dave Darling are performed as a kind of manifesto of the singer’s joy in the knowledge that “music is love, and it speaks, as it always has. If you listen it won’t be difficult to hear love, happiness, intimacy, truth, rebellion, redemption, resignation, hope, acceptance and finally the comfort of understanding.”

And almost as though the blues alone might be too much of a generic limitation on all this happiness, Magness masterfully broadens her musical palate with the colors of soul, rock and pop. She opens with the title song, a hot rocker announcing “sorrow’s all the way over” because love, indeed, “wins again.” Other highlights are the pop/blues love treat “When You Hold Me,” the dramatic “Moth to a Flame” and a touch of Americana in “Just Another Lesson,” a dark lyric set in a sweetly soft melody.

“Your House is Burnin’” is a rocker complete with the kind of horn accents that have James Brown written all over it. Magness carries it off with abandon. And if the song’s message—a warning about the miserable state of the world—seems at odds with the album’s central message, the song does end with a call for positive action: “Brother to brother and hand to hand/Starting today, I’m gonna say it again/Woman to woman and skin to skin/This is the day that we begin. . ./ To get up, break the chain/Make it right.”

There is also a gutsy cover of the Creedence Clearwater hit “Long as I Can See the Light.” The album ends with the almost prayerful end of life question: “Who Will Come for Me?”

The album, released by Blue Élan Records includes a small poster backed handily by the lyrics of all the songs.

Music Review: Etta James - Etta James: Live at Montreux 1975 - 1993

This article was first published at Blogcritics

One of the most honored singers of her generation, Etta James, who died in January of this year, was a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame and the Grammy Hall of Fame. She had won six Grammys and 17 Blues Music Award. Rolling Stone magazine has ranked her 22 on its list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and 62 on the list of 100 Greatest Artist.  And if you want to know why, all you have to do is listen to Etta James: Live at Montreux 1975 – 1993, the new CD release from Eagle Rock Entertainment.  A voice soulful and gritty, Etta James was a woman born to sing the blues.

The album's 11 tracks are previously unavailable live performances from four of the singer's many appearances over her 18 year association with the festival. Some singers need to be heard in the studio, not Etta James. This is a woman who knows how to take the stage and work the audience.  Just listen to the 1975 performance of her classic "W.O.M.A.N." She'll have you shaking your booty with the best of them. She is enjoying the hell out of herself; the audience is enjoying the hell out of themselves, and the CD gives you a taste of just what it was like, so you can enjoy the hell out of yourself, as well. 

The album begins with six tunes from 1993 including James favorites "I Just Wanna Make Love to You," "I'd Rather Go Blind," and "Come to Mama." "Beware" gives the singer an opportunity to show her sense of humor. "A Lover is Forever" is a soulful ballad sung with solo guitar accompaniment.  It shows off the singer's emotional intensity, the kind of intensity that infused the song most often associated with her, with all due respect to Beyonce, "At Last." This signature song turns up as the first tune in a medley from a 1977 appearance, and while some of us might have preferred a more extended version, what she gives us is a powerful taste.  The medley follows with "Trust in Me" and ends with a fabulous take on "A Sunday Kind of Love." It is James at her best. "Respect Yourself" and "Dust My Broom" are two more highlights from the 1975 concert and the album ends with "Sugar on the Floor" from 1989.

Etta James: Live at Montreux  1975 - 1993 is an album every blues lover will savor, and for James fans who want more, Eagle Rock is releasing an extended version of her Montreux performances on DVD and Blu-Ray at the end of August. Besides the tracks on the CD, the video includes "Funky Good Time," "Take It to the Limit," 'Come to Mama," "Hard to Handle," "Why I Sing the Blues," and "Hold On, I'm Coming" among others.

Music Review: Various Artists - Bar-B-Cue'n Blues

This article was first published at Blogcritics.

Lovers of traditional blues will want to check out Bar-B-Cue'n Blues one of series of compilations of remastered recordings of some of the great blues masters originally scheduled for release last fall from Catbone Unreleased.  The album, like others in the series, features fifteen previously unreleased tracks by the likes of John Lee Hooker, Howling Wolf and Muddy Waters as well as some lesser known names, eight different artists in all, and while there will be those who might have preferred complete albums devoted to the individuals, it is hard to complain about the opportunity to listen to some very fine blues that might well have gone under the radar otherwise.  It's no use looking the proverbial gift horse in the mouth organ. 

These are lovingly restored recordings worth checking out either for aficionados looking to fill holes in their collections or casual listeners looking for an introduction to the genre.  If there is anything to complain about, it is probably the liner notes.  Aside from a photo and some sketchy information about the performers—some of whom are not even represented on the specific album, there is no information about the specific tracks, either about the songs themselves or the performances.  A word or two about the date of the original and the musical accompaniment would have been welcome.  Still it is the music that's important, and there is a lot of good music.

The album opens with Chicago bluesman, Billy Boy Arnold's "Catfish."  Arnold, who has worked with the likes of Bo Diddley, is also represented by "Dirty Mother Furriers,"an almost seven minute swinging electric romp with lyrics that won't make it on NPR and "Sweet Miss Bea."  Harmonica virtuoso James Cotton—"Superharp," according to his website—has two tracks: a sweet blues, "So Glad I'm Livin" and the up tempo "You Know It Aint Right."  There's some boogie woogie from Jimmy Reed, "Boogie in the Dark" and an old home "Gone Fishin."  Trumpeter Jack Milman's "Tom and Jerry" is an easy going instrumental, although this is one of the tracks where it would clearly have been nice to have the names of the members of the ensemble.  Rock and roller Little Richard shows up with "I Don't Know What You've Got," not quite as flamboyant as some of his pop hits.

Then there's the big three.  Muddy Waters does "I Feel So Good" and "All Aboard," a song that echoes the train.  Howling Wolf's "Louise" is a classic and he adds a playful "Built for Comfort."  The album is rounded out John Lee Hooker's "Sally Mae," introduced with a throbbing guitar and a six and a half minute blast of blues improvisation on "Should Have Been Gone."

What Bar-B-Cue'n Blues lacks in depth, it certainly makes up for in variety.  It gives listeners a nice mix of representative artistic home cooking.  These are the folks that have worked in the roadhouses and the bars; they know the fields of Mississippi and the streets of Chicago.  They are the "blues" collar workers, and it is a shame that some of these names are not even better known.  An album like this only serves to illustrate how large the field of really fine blues musicians is.

Music Review: Barefoot Truth - Carry Us On

Article first published as Music Review: Barefoot Truth - Carry Us On on Blogcritics.

If like me, Carry Us On, their latest release, is your introduction to Barefoot Truth, you are in for one hell of a ride. At times quietly contemplative, at times filled with passion, at times alternating between the two, this is some emotionally powerful music. Barefoot Truth, a Connecticut product, melds roots music with rock, adds a bit of jazz and funk, some blues and even something pretty close to rap in a recipe for some fine listening. It is no wonder they have blossomed brightly with some eight million plays on Pandora as their publicity proclaims. In a USA Today interview the band's guitarist, Jay Driscoll said: "Pandora has created an avenue for us in music. All of a sudden people we had never met before were buying our music online and asking us to play in their cities." If that success results in an album like Carry Us On, it couldn't have come too soon.

Music and lyrics of the 12 tracks on the album are the work of a variety of combinations of members of the band, although the one name that comes up most often, even in a case or two as sole creator, is drummer and vocalist Will Evans. Driscoll is featured on the Weissenborn slide guitar as well as electric and acoustic. Andy Wrba plays upright and electric bass and some electric guitar. John Waynelovich (Wayno) is on piano and organ, and Garrett Duffy plays harmonica. Both join in with vocals. Some of the tracks add in horns or violin and cello.

A quick check on YouTube shows that at least some of these songs have been around for awhile. There is for example a duo guitar version of the album's opener, "Roll if You Fall." You can compare it with the official slickly produced video for its latest manifestation on Carry Us On on the band's website. It is a song that speaks for itself. I don't know that it needs the glossy production, but I don't know that it hurts. On the other hand the rawer live performance of "Drink to You" from a 2009 Bates College gig doesn't have quite the polished drama of the studio production on the album which builds to a climax that is little short of an anthem.

This is a band that is at home with a variety of styles. Whether it's the funky "Reelin,'" the jazzy "Hesitation," or the reggae "Eagle Front," they deliver the goods. Whether they play stripped down, low key roots with a catchy melody like "Rope" or add a little dramatic passion augmented with some strings like "Changes in the Weather," they rock. "Reach" is a beautiful simple melody with a beautifully earnest lyric. "Misled" begins with a little bit of scat and swings with a message about the courage to go on in spite of growing old and feeling "the weight on his shoulders." "The Ocean" rocks with a vision of a paradise on the beach and ends with a harmonica solo that at its very end suggests an ironic message. "Solitude" has a rough bluesy vibe. Variety is the key.

I read somewhere that Barefoot Truth is the best band you never heard of or something to that effect. I have to say whoever it was said it, was right.

Music Review: A Tribute to Billie Holiday

Article first published as Music Review:A Tribute to Billie Holiday-Various Artists on Blogcritics.

In the liner notes to A Tribute to Billie Holiday executive producer, Peter Stormare talks about how he first got turned on to the legendary singer. It was 1970 and he was a teenager in Sweden. Jimi Hendrix, "one of the gods of rock and roll," had died and he and his friends were in mourning. His mother recognizing his unhappiness suggested a book that might help him deal with his hero's death. The book was Lady Sings the Blues, the autobiography of Billie Holiday. The book's passionate honesty, he says, when he finally got around reading it, changed his life.

It is interesting that it is her book and her life rather than the music that Stormare highlights in his notes. Indeed, it is interesting that he has nothing at all to say about her music. After all, in the end it is the music that is the whole reason for the tribute in the first place. Not that the tragedy of her life is unimportant, clearly it is. But were it not for the greatness of her music, her tragedy would have melted into obscurity like so many thousands of others. In some sense her music is the expression of her life. Her gift was the ability to use her talent to make her audience feel what it was like to be Billie Holiday, to feel the highs, to feel the lows.

The tribute begins with an introductory reading from the autobiography by actress Angela Bassett. Other readings are scattered sporadically among the thirteen musical covers collected for the album from a variety of contemporary artists. Bassett's impassioned readings about Holiday's poverty and addiction, her sexual mistreatment as a child, and her penniless death while facing arrest for drug possession are some of the best things on the CD. They are raw and gritty and they help to define the singer's voice and style. Unfortunately this is not always the case with some of the musical selections.

The tracks on the album are not really attempts by the artists to mimic Holiday. There are some fine, even memorable performances on the album, but there are those that miss the mark, especially if that mark is in emulating Holiday's raw emotion. The most disappointing was the less than dynamic version of Abel Meeropol's "Strange Fruit" turned in by Babyface. It has an otherworldly quality that belies the horrific content of the anti-lynching classic. Boz Scaggs does a smooth workmanlike job on "Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me," and the guitar and keyboard accompaniment are nicely done, but raw is clearly not the best adjective to describe the track. There is an artistic sophistication about performances like these, Shelby Lynne's "You've Changed," and Rocco DeLucca's "Lady Sings the Blues" that softens the passion.

Grammy winner, Esperanza Spalding's "I'll Look Around" puts a more contemporary spin on the song and while not free from sophistication has the feel of authenticity. It is the class of the album, but it is not alone. Erin Boheme does a girlish sexy "Them There Eyes." Patti Austin handles the standard, "Body and Soul," with some creative phrasing and there is some nice backing by Dave Koz on sax. Brownstone delivers the goods with a rocking take of "God Bless the Child." Frida Payne does a swinging version of "Billie's Blues" that looks back to the forties and Deborah Cox has a sweet sound on "Fine and Mellow."

For the purist, there is no substitute for the original: there is no one that can do justice to some of these songs like Lady Day. Still the more you listen to the tracks on this tribute, the better you like them. If they will never replace Billie Holiday in the old timers who still remember her, if they send us back to some of those old records, if they manage to send some new listeners over to YouTube to listen to the Lady herself, well surely that's something worth doing.

Music Review: Ray Charles: Live in Concert

Article first published as Music Review: Ray Charles, Live in Concert on Blogcritics.

Jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues: Ray Charles," the genius," can do it all, and do it all he does in his 1964 concert at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles originally released by ABC-Paramount in 1965 as a twelve song album and now reissued by Concord Music Group on a nineteen track, seventeen song CD, Ray Charles: Live in Concert. There are some performers who seem uncomfortable outside the recording studio; live audiences are inconveniences that have to be put up with. There are some performers who always seem to manage a little something extra in live performance; audiences energize them. Not only is Ray Charles in this second group, he may well be at the head of the pack. The audience is having a good time; he is having a great time.

Whether he is taking a hoary old standard like "Margie," and making it his own, or rocking out his own chart topper, "Hallelujah, I Love Her So," this is a singer who has his audience in the palm of his hand. He begins with two big band jazz instrumentals: "Swing a Little Taste" and "One Mint Julep." The band has a brassy vibe that someone like Count Basie would have been proud of. On the first of the two you can hear Charles' patented growl over the piano. Original liner notes indicated that the fifteen piece band included a dozen horns featuring sax players David "Fathead" Newman, Hank Crawford and Leroy "Hog" Cooper. This is a band that can swing with the best of them. (As an aside, I recently heard "Fathead" Newman's "Hard Times" on an old time rock podcast, and if you've never heard it, you can download it from his web site.

The set includes a remarkable bluesy "Georgia on My Mind" with a flute and organ accompaniment that unaccountably didn't make the original album. Whoever decided to leave it out should have his head examined. It is one of the singer's finest moments. Lillian Fort joins him in a duet on "Don't Set Me Free." "I Got a Woman," a Charles standard, begins with a playful shout out to Chopin and then morphs into the blues. Other Charles favorites in the set include "In the Evening (When the Sun Goes Down)" with some really nice interaction with a solo trumpet, an eloquent "You Don't Know Me," and a rocking version of "What'd I Say" as the concert's finale.
Of the repertoire not normally associated with the singer, the jazzy "Makin' Whoopee" highlights the singer's versatility. His sly suggestive take on the song will make you forget bouncing Eddie Cantor's bulging eyes; that is of course supposing you're old enough to member who Eddie Cantor happens to be. Liner notes by Bill Dahl point out that the song was an "off the cuff" addition with improvised accompaniment by Wilbert Hogan's drums, bassist Edgar Willis and Sonny Forriest on guitar. In contrast there is a passionate heartfelt version of "That Lucky Old Sun" that could well be a definition of soul. There is a swinging "Baby, Don't You Cry" and a comic change of pace with "Two Ton Tessie." Here, indeed, are the many moods of Ray Charles.

There are nineteen tracks because the first cut is a short introduction and the last is a little joke with the audience added as a kind of coda to the evening's entertainment. "What'd I Say," in a nearly five and a half minute version is the real climax of the concert, and rightly so. It is everything that is great about Ray Charles and it is a fitting ending for an exciting night of music. For those of us around back in the day, Ray Charles Live in Concert will bring back a lot of wonderful memories. For those not quite that old, it may just give you some idea of what you missed.