female vocal

musicology #147

ladiesweek2 #1

(Marie Knight – Cry Me A River)

kicking off ladiesweek with a songbird whose recording career started in 1946 as a gospel singer, teaming up with cats like the Sunset Four and the Sam Price Trio, but it was in the summer of 1947 when Marie begun her association with Sister Rosetta Tharpe that her star began to shine bright, (a year later they cut the majestic ‘Up Above My Head, I Hear Music In The Air’)

Marie first hit the ‘secular groove’ in 1953, moved to Mercury, stayed there for a few years and then began the transition from Rhythm and Blues into ‘Soul’ with a few choice pieces on various labels that include Baton, OKeh and Diamond.

this classic song, (arranged by Bert Keyes and produced by Stan Kahan), is from her final days at Musicor and should have provided her the commercial success that she richly deserved but it wasn’t to be and so she spent the next few years working for a telephone company !! (not returning to recording until the late 70’s)

for themusicologist this is the pick of a bunch of 1965 recordings that epitomise the ‘Uptown’ Soul sound of the period. an amazing reworking of a song sung by such luminaries as Sam Cooke and Dinah Washington but of all of them this is the ‘best’. !! more than likely it’s the Cookies singing backup but Marie’s voice soars above the clouds and hits the highest heights.

musicology #55

coversweek .. day 3

(Candi Staton – Stand By Your Man – Fame -1970)

it has been bought to my attention that a possible flaw on themusicologist is the abscence of the track and artist info. my intention is to promote communication, not withhold precious information, so from now on expect to see it at the beginning of the post …. just to reiterate, themusicologist is a forum for sharing music, knowledge and communication.

slipping back into some soul for todays ‘version’ that epitomizes the essence of coversweek. this vocalist is best known for the disco classic young hearts run free but before that she was a disciple of Rick Hall’s Fame studio where southern soul was polished into a High Art.

It was the early Mod Classic You Better Move On, (Arthur Alexander) that launched the FAME sound followed by Jimmy Hughes’s Steal Away. the FAME studio was responsible for many a well known Soul tune by artists such as Aretha Franklin, Clarence Carter, Joe Tex, Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett, Bobby Womack, etc and it was into this creative maelstrom that the artist in question evolved from a teenage member of the Jewell Gospel Trio in the 1950’s and early 60’s, (touring with the likes of the Soul Strirrers and Mahalia Jackson), into to a woman capable of scoring ‘hits’ throughout the 1970’s. so without further ado .. hold this country and western standard. ladies .. enough said !!

musicology #53

coversweek .. day1

(Randy Crawford – Knocking On Heaven’s Door)

due to the popularity of themusicologists recent thematics, (ladiesweek/mansweek/duets/vocalgroups), as well as the personal pleasure gained by sharing such music it’s time to jump back into the saddle and throwdown a new theme.

coversweek .. alternative renditions of well known tunes …

most of the time I favour the original but on occasion an artist brings out something different in the tune and reaches new ground, as is the, (subjective), case with the seven pieces this week.

first up is a female vocalist who has already featured on themusicologist, (musicology #26 ), with a pucker rendition of a Bob Dylan song, (first of two Dylan covers), from the movie Pat Garret & Billy The Kid. themusicologist is a BIG fan of Dylan having grown up listening to the cat from ‘early out’ and I place him high up the learning tree as one o me ‘learning facilitators’ along with father Curtis, the Modfather, the Poet, Van Morrison and a few others so, without further delay ..