THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME (NEW RELEASES) By Michael McDowell

FUNNY FEATHERS:  Veteran composer and vocalist MARIA MULDAUR salutes her legendary mentor, Victoria Spivey in her latest Nola Blue Records release, One Hour Mama.  Editor / Publisher Michael McDowell professes solidarity below. (Click on above image to enlarge).

CDs AND VINYL - NEW RELEASES

(REVIEWS ARE POSTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY ARTIST)

ONE HOUR MAMA:

THE BLUES OF VICTORIA SPIVEY -

Maria Muldaur (Nola Blue)

The work of true visionaries tends to pay itself forward.

To that effect, in the late 1960s, one time Imperial Records executive and cutout king, Ken Revercomb (whose clientele included the vaunted Arlans Department Store chain, which boasted a world class record department that was second to none) featured prominently in its delete bins the December 1963 Elektra label debut album by the ambitious Even Dozen Jug Band. Although the album had gone out of print by that time, it nonetheless earned a whole new audience by virtue of the subsequent successes of some of its storied alumni. Among them were the Blues Project's Steve Katz, prolific solo artist Stefan Grossman and Lovin' Spoonful cofounder and mastermind, John Sebastian.

Also among the Even Dozen Jug Band's ranks was the ambitious vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Maria D'Amato. An avid student of the works of the early blues pioneers, D'Amato went on to an enormously successful solo career as Maria Muldaur.

To her considerable advantage, Muldaur at that time counted among her inspirations and mentors the vaunted composer, vocalist and Houston, Texas native, Victoria Regina Spivey. An instant success upon signing with the OKeh label in 1926, Spivey had also made her mark in film, as an entertainment industry journalist and as a church choir director. Spivey saw tremendous potential in Muldaur, and mentored her in a multi-faceted capacity.

Nearly a half century after Spivey's 1976 passing at age 69, Muldaur has returned the favor with this sublime twelve-track salute to her mentor's legacy. Joining forces with such like minded colleagues as Elvin Bishop (for What Makes You Act Like That?)  and Taj Mahal (on Gotta Have What It Takes), Muldaur herein soars with an all too rare combination of the seemingly incongruous attributes of whimsy and mastery.

Spivey's command of the verse, chorus and bridge template is celebrated impeccably by Muldaur's takes on No, Papa, No!, T-B Blues and Don't Love No Married Man. But by far the most magnificent moment comes from Muldaur's Spivey-inspired Any-Kind-A-Man. The latter track was composed in 1929 by Spivey's much loved colleague, fellow visionary and OKeh labelmate, the great Hattie McDaniel. McDaniel, who would of course go on to tremendous acclaim as an Oscar-winning film superstar (including landmark roles in Gone With The Wind and Thank Your Lucky Stars) and television pioneer, provided Spivey with one of her finest moments in the studio, enabling Muldaur to bring the process full circle nearly a century later.

One Hour Mama: The Blues Of Victoria Spivey is not the first project to champion the work of the early blues masters in recent months. In 2024, virtuoso guitarist Sue Foley paid tribute to a number of Spivey's like minded colleagues in her One Guitar Woman album for Stony Plain. And with this latest project, Muldaur not only pays her mentor's legacy forward, but (like Foley), brings it full circle. To invoke one of the many Spivey triumphs feted here, it is a Down Hill Pull that nonetheless finds one and all on a decidedly upward trajectory.

HALF & HALF -

Lara Price

(Gulf Coast)

I Mean Business.

That 2015 release on the Price Prouctions label most assuredly lived up to its name. Therein, the Bay Area-based composer and vocalist Lara Price stood far above the herd with her no nonesense hybrid of classic jazz and R&B.

On Half & Half, Price offers ambitious takes on a rich variety of classics, from her acoustic interpretation of Duke Ellington's Solitude to her faithful yet highly personalized salute to Ann Peebles' Trouble Heartaches & Sadness. She absolutely soars on Fools Like Me; doing the definitive versions by the Merseybeats and Jerry Lee Lewis justice in the process.

In turn, Price's compositional skills have certainly held their own in the years since I Mean Business. In particular, the vivid lyrical imagery of the deceptively low key Rain reflects a keen mastery of the all true rare attribute of subtle intensity. Conversely, the relatively uptempo The Way Love Goes allows Price to cut loose in a manner that best showcases her formidable vocal prowess.

With Half & Half, Lara Price has continued to rise to the occasion and deliver far above the grand ennui. And in the words from one of the standout cuts from I Mean Business, she does so One Tear At A Time.