Kim Wilson That’s Life

Kim Wilson
That’s Life
Antone’s

Kim Wilson’s second Antone’s album showcases his considerable talent as a singer, harmonica player and songwriter. It is comprised of Wilson’s originals and some covers of tunes that haven’t been done to tedium.

Opening with a rocking jump blues, Baby Please Don’t Lie To Me, Wilson confidently delivers his vocal on a lyric suggestive of Percy Mayfield. In contrast Don’t Bite the Hand That Feeds You sounds like a cover of an unissued Sonny Boy Williamson Checker recording , although Wilson’s harp echoes Little Walter on his fine treatment of Jimmy Rogers’ Blues Leave Me Alone (with tasty harp fills and a solid solo from guitarist Rusty Zinn) and on the harp features, Humpin’ to Please, and Lowdown, both exhibiting his relaxed and fluid phrasing and full tone. Wilson salutes the second Sonny Boy Williamson on She’s My Baby, and his harp also echoes Williamson on a rocking rendition of Junior Parker’s Pretty Baby.

In addition to Zinn, Duke Robillard, Derek O’Brien and Clarence Holliman are also heard on guitar, and Gene Taylor adds piano. The only tune that perhaps comes off flat is Wilson’s straight reworking of Irma Thomas’ classic soul hit, Time is on My Side. Otherwise, Wilson’s songs, vocals and harp recapture the feeling of the classic blues from the fifties and sixties on a set that is much more than simply nostalgia.

I likely received a review copy of this from the label or a publicist. This review originally appeared in the November 1994 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 194). Here is Kim from a somewhat recent performance.

Trudy Lynn Is Still Here

Trudy Lynn got notice with her marvelous soulful blues recordings on the Icihban label but since that label’s demise her recordings have been less frequent. She appeared on some of trumpeter-bandleader Calvin Owens project, had a CD on Ruf, but her new album on Owens’ Sawdust Alley Records, proclaims I’m Still Here. With a variety of guests including clarinetist Michael White, guitarists Guitar Shorty and Clarence Holliman and zydeco accordionist, Jabo, this disc is compiled from sessions over several years.

Against Owens Big Band backing Lynn displays why she is such a highly regarded vocalist. She has a powerful voice but convinces with her command as a singer who can handle a soft ballad as she can blast out a jumping number. She certainly ranks at the top of any list of contemporary women blues vocalists. Unfortunately too much of the material here consists of generic blues songs about swinging or Trudy being a Blues Singing Woman. The material is not as strong as the authority which with Lynn invests her performances.

Lynn’s own song, which provides the album with its title, is stronger as she reflects on her life as a performer and a blues singer and her struggle to keep carrying on. Hands Off My Woman is one of two vocals by trumpeter Nelson Mills. It is an OK number but this is this is Trudy’s album and why do I want to here some gentleman singing about his woman is his property even if he loves her. Saturday Night is an instrumental where Owens takes his only solo here and Michael White is also featured.

Since I Found You is one of the better songs here, a soul-ballad whose lyric matches Lynn’s vocal. Another good number is Left Me Singin’ the Blues about a man who left her with Charles Davis contributing a nice solo. A bit of big band zydeco can be head on Boogie Woogie Gumbo, another instrumental with a striking solo by the late Clarence Holliman and accordion from Jabo. A real nice track but again, this is Trudy’s album ,and its unfortunate that they did not have a selection of Holliman playing behind Trudy. You’re the Only One is a wonderfully sung love song, while Welcome Home Baby, has a nice lyric of getting past what happened in past while the closing Payin’ the Price has a somewhat quicker tempo for a solid soul-blues performance.

Trudy Lynn is well worth listening to even on lesser material as she has one of those voices and she is one of those singers that could make a phone book a swinging affair.

I believe this is the last album that has been released under Trudy’s name. This review appeared originally in theNovember 2006 DC Blues Calendar, then the newsletter of the DC Blues Society. I received my review copy from either the record company or a publicist handling the release. Here is a video of Trudy doing a well known blues chestnut.

Marcia Ball CD review

Here is a review from nearly a decade ago of Marcia Ball's Rounder album, Let Me Play With your Poodle that appeared in the Cleveland based Jazz & Blues Report in 1997 and the DC Blues calendar around the same time. This is the album where she first sang Randy Newman's Louisiana, 1927, a song unfortunately made timely in light of Hurricane Katrina. This was before the excellent guitarist Pat Boyack started his tenure with Ms. Ball with what became an excellent touring band.

Marcia Ball
Let Me Play With Your Poodle
Rounder

Marcia Ball’s first new album in several years contains the same lively mix of New Orleans R&B, zydeco and gulf coast blues that have made her such a popular performer, mixing her smooth, yet so soulful vocals with her vigorous piano on a savory menu of musical treats - some vintage blues and some she newly penned. The title cut is a classic Tampa Red number that was also a staple of Lightning Hopkins’ repertoire that Ball dresses up in a hot zydeco arrangement and plays at a very hot tempo with Paul Klemper’s sax and Steve Williams guitar adding solo voices in addition to Ball’s Crescent City based piano groove. Others on this session include Derek O’Brien, Clarence Holliman, and Kaz Kazanoff. Also included is a rocking version of Clarence Garlow’s R&B classic, "Crawfishin’," and her own originals, like "Why Woman Cry" and "The Story of My Life," are sung in an unmannered, soulful fashion that is a real delight to listen to. Those who might quibble and suggest that Marcia Ball’s music lacks the grit and grime of some other artists would be ignoring her soulfulness, which can be heard in all of the performances here. And when she finishes Randy Newman’s ballad about the Mississippi River floods of 1927,"Louisiana, 1927," you’ll be ready to give this disc another spin.