Jade Chronicles

  • Home
  • Art and Culture
  • Food and Travel
  • Love and Likes

Friday, December 10, 2010

Etta James: Her Best (1997)

| 2 Comments
Recently I watched Cadillac Records (directed by Darnell Martin and featuring Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright and Beyoncé Knowles), and knew I wanted to re-discover Etta James. For anyone wishing to do the same, a great start is the 1997 compilation titled Etta James: Her Best that includes some essential songs from her time at Chess Records.

The single-disc album is part of Chess’ Legendary Masters Series. It contains 20 tracks (all digitally re-mastered) that span James’ life and career, and opens you to the raw hurt, the depth and power of her voice, and the emotions that ruled her heart, whether of joy or pain.

Her Best includes the ever famous “At Last,” “I’d Rather Go Blind,” “All I Could Do Is Cry” and “A Sunday Kind Of Love,” and other gems such as “Baby, What You Want Me To Do,” “Next Door To The Blues” and “Trust In Me.” It’s all gritty, passionate and sometimes just plain sassy sounds from one of the greatest American musicians of all time.

The winner of four Grammy Awards and 17 Blues Music Awards, James traces her start to the youth choir of St. Paul’s Baptist church in Los Angeles. That voice has never looked back. She had done a number of recordings with Johnny Otis and had toured a lot by the time she crossed paths with Leonard Chess. Chess had already worked with the likes of Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Little Walter, Bo Diddley, the Moonglows and the Flamingoes, and earned a name for himself and his (and brother Phil’s) recording company.

Working with legendary producer Ralph Bass and with Chess’ backing, Etta went in a new musical direction that let her explore the pop sounds being made popular at the time, without losing her blues influences. It is the essence of this period – one of the greatest in her recording career – that is captured in this album.

There was a stall in her career for a while because of substance abuse issues, but she bounced back with characteristic flair, recording with Rick Hall. Moving from blues to R&B, jazz and pop, she has faced many a change in the recording industry and remained true to her essential style through different musical genres. Most of all she has lived the life she sings. She has been an inspiration to many artists of today, and her music continues to influence those who come upon it.

Once you are on the way to discovering Etta’s music, you may want to graduate on to the two-disc, 44-track Essential Etta James. David Ritz has written a fabulous biography on James, titled Rage to Survive, an informative read if you want to find out more about the woman behind the music.
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook
Labels: Art and culture, Music
Tags : Art and culture , Music
Anushika

2 comments:

  1. UnknownFebruary 1, 2016 at 7:12 PM

    gyd

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
      Reply
  2. UnknownJanuary 25, 2017 at 8:42 PM

    You will in all likelihood have the capacity to acquire fund regardless of the possibility that your credit is not as much as great. It is just a matter of careful research and, more than whatever else, tolerance. Parcels and heaps of tolerance. car title loans chicago

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
      Reply
Add comment
Load more...

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Error 404 - Not Found
Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn't here.

Popular Posts

  • The Poetry of Drawing: Pre-Raphaelite Designs, Studies and Watercolours
    Study of Jane Morris for Mnemosyne (1876) by Rossetti Did you know that the Pre-Raphaelites considered their drawings to be works of ...
  • Reflections on Watteau
    Playful, elegant, romantic; idyllic outdoor scenes in pastel shades; a theatrical feast for the eyes that revealed the sensuousness of indul...
  • Sigiriya: A Journey of Discovery
    Sigiriya is one of those historic places, where the journey is as fabulous as the destination. The long drive into the heart of Sri Lanka, t...
  • Daughter of Fortune (1999)
    Daughter of Fortune is a novel by Isabel Allende, translated from Spanish by Margaret Sayers Peden. In Spanish it reads La Hija de la For...
  • Wolf Hall (2009) Bring Up the Bodies (2012)
    I generally don’t like to read books where I already know the storyline, but these two books were the exception to that rule. Written by H...
  • The Inheritance of Loss (2006)
    In ‘The Inheritance of Loss’ two things unravel: as one generation is physically displaced and emotionally dispossessed from their colonial ...
  • The Hungry Ghosts (2013)
    Reading Shyam Selvadurai's novel The Hungry Ghosts made me feel that here is a writer who has that rare ability to put our thoughts i...
  • The Best Australian Essays 2010 (2010)
    In his introduction, Robert Drewe, the Editor of The Best Australian Essays 2010 , asks himself “wouldn’t it be good to show what this count...
  • The Elegance of the Hedgehog (2006)
    What a charming work! I’m yet to read a better book with such a carefully-worded satire for anyone nursing high-handed notions of class and ...
  • Honour (2012)
    There are several great things I love about Turkish writer Elif Shafek’s book Honour – the fascinating locations, the warm and passionate ...

Category

  • Art and culture
  • Food and travel
  • Love and likes
© 2014 Jade Chronicles. All rights reserved