Ladies Man
Pinetop Perkins
Susan Tedeschi, Ruth Brown, Marcia Ball, Madeleine Peyroux, Odetta
Engineer: Fred Guarino,
Producer: Mark Carpenteri
M.C. Records, 2005
1 CD
Catalogue #: 0053
EAN: 0607735005326
UPC: 607735005326
You save: 20%
Personnel include: Pinetop Perkins (vocals, piano); Deborah Coleman, Madeleine Peyroux, Susan Tedeschi (vocals, guitar); Odetta, Angela Stehli, Ruth Brown (vocals); Elvin Bishop (slide guitar); Marcia Ball, Ann Rabson (piano); Bob Stroger (bass guitar); Willie Smith (drums).
Recording information: Raven Street Studios, Ottawa, Ontario (2003); Tiki Recording Studios, Glen Cove, NY (2003); Memphis Soundworks, Memphis, TN (2003); Rancho Nicasio, Nicasio, CA (2004).
By 2004, Pinetop Perkins may have entered his twilight years, and the fiery action he brought to the 88s in Muddy Waters's band in the 1960s may have mellowed to a smoother blues, but LADIES MAN proves he's still got the juice. The idea behind the album was to pair Perkins with an assortment of female musicians, all of whom have cited the elder statesman as an influence. The guest stars, including Ruth Brown, Marcia Ball, and Susan Tedeschi, add texture and flavor to Pinetop's well-worn vocals and still vital boogie-woogie stylings.
The tunes Pinetop sings on, from the laid-back "Chicken Shack" to the rollicking "Big Fat Mama," sound as warm and familiar as old friends. But when Madeleine Peyroux takes the mic on "He's Got Me Goin'," unleashing a butter-smooth croon, or when Odetta lays down her deep alto on "Trouble in Mind," the session takes off. Brown's sassy turn on "Chains of Love," one of the album's highlights, recalls the gutsy punch of the Chicago-blues heyday, amid more updated sounds and boogie throwbacks. Perkins's fine backing musicians (including Elvin Bishop, whose slide guitar graces "How Long") keep things simmering throughout this legendary pianist's late-period date.
Tracklist
Pinetop Perkins
A journeyman blues pianist who was prominent in the development of a modern boogie woogie style, Pinetop Perkins accompanied the likes of Big Joe Williams, Robert Nighthawk, and the original Sonny Boy Williamson (I) early in his career. He also recorded a celebrated version of Pinetop Smith's "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" for Sun Records in 1953, leading many fans to mistakenly attribute the original composition to him (Perkins acquired his nickname from the tune). Eventually settling in Chicago, he took over the piano chair from Otis Spann in Muddy Water's band in 1969 and continued touring with Waters till the latter's death. Perkins himself continued to release contemporary blues albums all the way into the 2000s, collaborating with the likes of Susan Tedeschi and Marcia Ball on 2004's LADIES MAN.
Susan Tedeschi
Boston-born blues singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi built up a strong grass-roots following in the '90s with her forward-looking style, which combined classic blues with soul, pop, and a dash of rock. She's as comfortable covering material by Al Green or John Prine as she is tackling a Junior Wells or Big Mama Thornton chestnut. Married to Allman Brothers Band guitarist Derek Trucks (a solo artist in his own right), she's a favorite on the jam-band circuit as well as a blues festival regular.
Ruth Brown
Ruth Brown was the first great female R&B star of the 1950s, one of the crucial figures in the transition between that music and early rock & roll. She began her career on Atlantic Records in that label's infancy, and did much to establish Atlantic as the premier R&B label. Brown chalked up hit after hit between 1949 and 1955. In the ensuing years, she collaborated with noted jazz musicians and even ventured into acting (in fact she won a Tony in 1989 for her work in the show BLACK AND BLUE). Brown was deservedly inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1993, and remained active in performing and recording throughout that decade. She passed away in Las Vegas on November 17, 2006 at the age of 78.
Madeleine Peyroux
Madeleine Peyroux is helping to keep classic jazz vocals alive in the new millennium, and while her voice and delivery owe a supreme debt to the legendary Billie Holiday, Peyroux puts her own hip spin on Lady Day's musical tradition. As much an American version of Edith Piaf as a straight jazz singer, Peyroux interprets sorrowful songs by a host of artists across all genres, undauntedly tackling everything from "Careless Love" and "Lovesick Blues" to Leonard Cohen and Elliott Smith. She released her fourth full-length, HALF THE PERFECT WORLD, in 2006.
Odetta
Taking inspiration from classic blues singers and folk troubadours of the 1930s and '40s and predating the folk boom of the '60s, Odetta remains one of the most important yet often overlooked artists of the American musical tradition. Her unique, politically charged fusion of blues, traditional Negro spirituals, and American folk songs was a profound influence on a generation of artists from Bob Dylan and Joan Baez to Tracy Chapman. Odetta continued to perform well after her heyday, remaining both fiercely political and artistically engaging.
