Former porn star turned blues diva Candye Kane delivers some sass and soul of her own on Diva la Grande (Antone’s/Discovery 74710; 53:13). More than just a high camp novelty act, this voluptuous vixen can really belt out with bluesy, gospel holler gusto, as she ably demonstrates on “You Need A Great Big Woman,” “Love ‘Em & Forgive ‘Em” and “Freak Lover.” She turns in a spicy cajun version of “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'” alongside labelmate Toni Price. Big Sandy & The Fly Rite Boys guest on the jumping western swing number “I Left My Heart In Texas” while California legend Dave Alvin provides some suitably raucous guitar licks on “Homewrecker.” Candye delivers with genuine feeling on the moving ballad “It Should Be Rainin'” then gets downright raunchy and X-rated on “Gifted In The Ways Of Love” and “All You Can Eat (And You Can Eat It All Night Long”). But then, raunchy innuendo has been a part of the blues going back to the days of Bessie Smith. Stellar support from her band the Swingin’ Armadillos, featuring Sue “Beehive” Palmer on piano, along with Austin stalwarts Derek O’Brien on guitar, Ted Roddy on harmonica and Mark Kazanoff on saxes. Surprisingly good. Fans of Marcia Ball take note of this one.
Originally PublishedRelated Posts
Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee: Backwater Blues
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading
Become a JazzTimes member to explore our complete archive of interviews, profiles, columns, and reviews written by music’s best journalists and critics.
Jonathan Butler: The Simple Life
Jonathan Butler’s optimistic music belies a dirt-poor childhood growing up in a South Africa segregated by apartheid. Live in South Africa, a new CD and DVD package, presents a sense of the resulting inner turmoil, mixed with dogged resolve, that paved the way to his status as an icon in his country and successful musician outside of it. Looking back, the 46-year-old Butler says today, the driving forces that led to his overcoming apartheid-the formal policy of racial separation and economic discrimination finally dismantled in 1993-were family, faith and abundant talent.
“When we were kids, our parents never talked about the ANC [African National Congress] or Nelson Mandela,” he says. Butler was raised as the youngest child in a large family. They lived in a house patched together by corrugated tin and cardboard, in the “coloreds only” township of Athlone near Cape Town. “They never talked about struggles so we never knew what was happening.”
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading
Become a JazzTimes member to explore our complete archive of interviews, profiles, columns, and reviews written by music’s best journalists and critics.
Harry Connick, Jr.: Direct Hits
Two decades after his commercial breakthrough, Harry Connick Jr. taps legendary producer Clive Davis for an album of crooner roots and beloved tunes
Scott LaFaro
Previously unavailable recordings and a new bio illuminate the legend of bassist Scott LaFaro