ODETTA
''THE BEST OF THE M.C.RECORDS YEARS 1999-2005''
SEPTEMBER 4 2006
71:19
**********
1 - Blues Everywhere I Go 4:50 (Scott Shirley)
2 - Good Night Irene 4:55 (Leadbelly, Alan Lomax)
3 - Please Send Me Someone To Love 2:31 (Percy Mayfield)
4 - This Little Light of Mine 4:40 (Harry Loes)
5 - Bourgeois Blues 4:29 (Huddie Ledbetter)
6 - Trouble In Mind 4:24 (Big Bill Broonzy)
7 - New Orleans 4:37 (Big Bill Broonzy)
8 - Fredom Trilogy: Oh Freedom; Come And Go With Me; I'm On My Way 6:32
9 - Two Little Fishes and Five Loaves of Bread 3:21 (Haneghen)
10 - Roberta 5:32 (Huddie Ledbetter, Alan Lomax)
11 - Can't Afford To Lose My Man 2:53 (Ernest Lawlars)
12 - Midnight Special 4:35 (Huddie Ledbetter)
13 - Poor Little Jesus 2:15
14 - Alabama Bound; Boll Weevil 7:16 (Leadbelly, Traditional)
15 - What Mounth Was Jesus Born In 1:46
16 - Oh, Papa 2:58 (Davide Elman)
17 - You Gotta Know How 3:37 (Sippie Wallace)
**********
Odetta /Vocals
Henry Butler /Guest Artist, Piano
Mark Carpentieri /Drums
Richard Crooks /Drums
Popsy Dixon /Drums, Guest Artist
Dr. John /Guest Artist, Piano, Vocals
Seth Farber /Organ, Piano
Sherman Holmes /Bass, Guest Artist
Wendell Holmes /Guest Artist, Guitar, Piano
Freddy Koella /Violin
Michael Merritt /Bass (Acoustic)
Shawn Pelton /Drums
Pinetop Perkins /Guest Artist, Piano
Jim Saporito /Percussion
Brad Vickers /Bass
Jimmy Vivino /Banjo, Guitar (12 String Acoustic), Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
Kim Wilson /Guest Artist, Harmonica
**********
REVIEW/AMG
William Ruhlmann
When Odetta began recording for M.C. Records in 1999, she was 68 years old and had not made a new studio album in more than a decade. The result was a late-career renaissance, as she turned out a blues LP (Blues Everywhere I Go), an album of Leadbelly songs (Looking for a Home, Thanks to Leadbelly), a Grammy-nominated live holiday collection (Gonna Let It Shine), and a set of spirituals (Shout Sister Shout, A Tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe). She even found time to guest on labelmate Pinetop Perkins' Ladies Man. All these records are sampled for Acadia's compilation The Best of the M.C. Records Years 1999-2005, a 17-track summary of the label affiliation. It's apparent from the opening track, "Blues Everywhere I Go," that Odetta was not going to stick to her acoustic folk style, as she fronts a traditional blues band. Elsewhere, her collaborations with guests Dr. John ("Please Send Me Someone to Love"), Perkins ("Trouble in Mind"), and Henry Butler (who plays piano on "New Orleans," aka "House of the Rising Sun") produce felicitous results, but she is just as effective on her own. Her music was always a mixture of folk, blues, and spiritual styles; at this point, as much as 50 years into her career, she was still in good voice and was leaning more toward the blues and spiritual sides of her music.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Philip Van Vleck
One of the strongest voices in the folk revival and the civil rights movement, Odetta was born on New Year's Eve 1930 in Birmingham, AL. By the time she was six years old, she had moved with her younger sister and mother to Los Angeles. She showed a keen interest in music from the time she was a child, and when she was about ten years old, somewhere between church and school, her singing voice was discovered. Odetta's mother began saving money to pay for voice lessons for her, but was advised to wait until her daughter was 13 years old and well into puberty. Thanks to her mother, Odetta began voice lessons when she was 13. She received a classical training, which was interrupted when her mother could no longer afford to pay for the lessons. The puppeteer Harry Burnette interceded and paid for Odetta to continue her voice training.
When she was 19 years old, Odetta landed a role in the Los Angeles production of Finian's Rainbow, which was staged in the summer of 1949 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. It was during the run of this show that she first heard the blues harmonica master Sonny Terry. The following summer, Odetta was again performing in summer stock in California. This time it was a production of Guys and Dolls, staged in San Francisco. Hanging out in North Beach during her days off, Odetta had her first experience with the growing local folk music scene. Following her summer in San Francisco, Odetta returned to Los Angeles, where she worked as a live-in housekeeper. During this time she performed on a show bill with Paul Robeson.
In 1953, Odetta took some time off from her housecleaning chores to travel to New York City and appear at the famed Blue Angel folk club. Pete Seeger and Harry Belafonte had both taken an interest in her career by this time, and her debut album, The Tin Angel, was released in 1954. From this time forward, Odetta worked to expand her repertoire and make full use of what she has always termed her "instrument." When she began singing, she was considered a coloratura soprano. As she matured, she became more of a mezzo-soprano. Her experience singing folk music led her to discover a vocal range that runs from coloratura to baritone.
Odetta's most productive decade as a recording artist came in the 1960s, when she released 16 albums, including Odetta at Carnegie Hall, Christmas Spirituals, Odetta and the Blues, It's a Mighty World, and Odetta Sings Dylan. In 1999 she released her first studio album in 14 years, Blues Everywhere I Go. On September 29, 1999, President Bill Clinton presented Odetta with the National Endowment for the Arts' Medal of the Arts, a fitting tribute to one of the great treasures of American music.
The next few years found Odetta releasing some new full-length albums, including Livin' with the Blues and a collection of Leadbelly tunes, Looking for a Home. She toured North America, Latvia, and Scotland and was mentioned in Martin Scorsese's 2005 documentary, No Direction Home. That same year Odetta released Gonna Let It Shine, which went on to receive a 2007 Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Folk Album. In December 2008, she died of heart disease in New York.
**********
TO THE TOP
**********
''THE BEST OF THE M.C.RECORDS YEARS 1999-2005''
SEPTEMBER 4 2006
71:19
**********
1 - Blues Everywhere I Go 4:50 (Scott Shirley)
2 - Good Night Irene 4:55 (Leadbelly, Alan Lomax)
3 - Please Send Me Someone To Love 2:31 (Percy Mayfield)
4 - This Little Light of Mine 4:40 (Harry Loes)
5 - Bourgeois Blues 4:29 (Huddie Ledbetter)
6 - Trouble In Mind 4:24 (Big Bill Broonzy)
7 - New Orleans 4:37 (Big Bill Broonzy)
8 - Fredom Trilogy: Oh Freedom; Come And Go With Me; I'm On My Way 6:32
9 - Two Little Fishes and Five Loaves of Bread 3:21 (Haneghen)
10 - Roberta 5:32 (Huddie Ledbetter, Alan Lomax)
11 - Can't Afford To Lose My Man 2:53 (Ernest Lawlars)
12 - Midnight Special 4:35 (Huddie Ledbetter)
13 - Poor Little Jesus 2:15
14 - Alabama Bound; Boll Weevil 7:16 (Leadbelly, Traditional)
15 - What Mounth Was Jesus Born In 1:46
16 - Oh, Papa 2:58 (Davide Elman)
17 - You Gotta Know How 3:37 (Sippie Wallace)
**********
Odetta /Vocals
Henry Butler /Guest Artist, Piano
Mark Carpentieri /Drums
Richard Crooks /Drums
Popsy Dixon /Drums, Guest Artist
Dr. John /Guest Artist, Piano, Vocals
Seth Farber /Organ, Piano
Sherman Holmes /Bass, Guest Artist
Wendell Holmes /Guest Artist, Guitar, Piano
Freddy Koella /Violin
Michael Merritt /Bass (Acoustic)
Shawn Pelton /Drums
Pinetop Perkins /Guest Artist, Piano
Jim Saporito /Percussion
Brad Vickers /Bass
Jimmy Vivino /Banjo, Guitar (12 String Acoustic), Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
Kim Wilson /Guest Artist, Harmonica
**********
REVIEW/AMG
William Ruhlmann
When Odetta began recording for M.C. Records in 1999, she was 68 years old and had not made a new studio album in more than a decade. The result was a late-career renaissance, as she turned out a blues LP (Blues Everywhere I Go), an album of Leadbelly songs (Looking for a Home, Thanks to Leadbelly), a Grammy-nominated live holiday collection (Gonna Let It Shine), and a set of spirituals (Shout Sister Shout, A Tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe). She even found time to guest on labelmate Pinetop Perkins' Ladies Man. All these records are sampled for Acadia's compilation The Best of the M.C. Records Years 1999-2005, a 17-track summary of the label affiliation. It's apparent from the opening track, "Blues Everywhere I Go," that Odetta was not going to stick to her acoustic folk style, as she fronts a traditional blues band. Elsewhere, her collaborations with guests Dr. John ("Please Send Me Someone to Love"), Perkins ("Trouble in Mind"), and Henry Butler (who plays piano on "New Orleans," aka "House of the Rising Sun") produce felicitous results, but she is just as effective on her own. Her music was always a mixture of folk, blues, and spiritual styles; at this point, as much as 50 years into her career, she was still in good voice and was leaning more toward the blues and spiritual sides of her music.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Philip Van Vleck
One of the strongest voices in the folk revival and the civil rights movement, Odetta was born on New Year's Eve 1930 in Birmingham, AL. By the time she was six years old, she had moved with her younger sister and mother to Los Angeles. She showed a keen interest in music from the time she was a child, and when she was about ten years old, somewhere between church and school, her singing voice was discovered. Odetta's mother began saving money to pay for voice lessons for her, but was advised to wait until her daughter was 13 years old and well into puberty. Thanks to her mother, Odetta began voice lessons when she was 13. She received a classical training, which was interrupted when her mother could no longer afford to pay for the lessons. The puppeteer Harry Burnette interceded and paid for Odetta to continue her voice training.
When she was 19 years old, Odetta landed a role in the Los Angeles production of Finian's Rainbow, which was staged in the summer of 1949 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. It was during the run of this show that she first heard the blues harmonica master Sonny Terry. The following summer, Odetta was again performing in summer stock in California. This time it was a production of Guys and Dolls, staged in San Francisco. Hanging out in North Beach during her days off, Odetta had her first experience with the growing local folk music scene. Following her summer in San Francisco, Odetta returned to Los Angeles, where she worked as a live-in housekeeper. During this time she performed on a show bill with Paul Robeson.
In 1953, Odetta took some time off from her housecleaning chores to travel to New York City and appear at the famed Blue Angel folk club. Pete Seeger and Harry Belafonte had both taken an interest in her career by this time, and her debut album, The Tin Angel, was released in 1954. From this time forward, Odetta worked to expand her repertoire and make full use of what she has always termed her "instrument." When she began singing, she was considered a coloratura soprano. As she matured, she became more of a mezzo-soprano. Her experience singing folk music led her to discover a vocal range that runs from coloratura to baritone.
Odetta's most productive decade as a recording artist came in the 1960s, when she released 16 albums, including Odetta at Carnegie Hall, Christmas Spirituals, Odetta and the Blues, It's a Mighty World, and Odetta Sings Dylan. In 1999 she released her first studio album in 14 years, Blues Everywhere I Go. On September 29, 1999, President Bill Clinton presented Odetta with the National Endowment for the Arts' Medal of the Arts, a fitting tribute to one of the great treasures of American music.
The next few years found Odetta releasing some new full-length albums, including Livin' with the Blues and a collection of Leadbelly tunes, Looking for a Home. She toured North America, Latvia, and Scotland and was mentioned in Martin Scorsese's 2005 documentary, No Direction Home. That same year Odetta released Gonna Let It Shine, which went on to receive a 2007 Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Folk Album. In December 2008, she died of heart disease in New York.
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TO THE TOP
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