Blessed with a clear, unforced sonority, an admirable range and a relaxed approach to time and phrasing, Sue Raney is probably best remembered for the three Discovery albums she recorded with Bob Florence in the early to mid-’80s. However, on this new release we get a chance to hear her on previously unissued sessions from the ’60s, on which she was backed by the Page Cavanaugh Quartet and Septet, the Buddy DeFranco/Tommy Gumina Quartet, and Shelly Manne and His Men. Do not be misled, though, by the name value of her accompanists, for this is primarily an all-vocal album, the only absorbing instrumental solo being Buddy’s brief bit on “Some Of These Days.” The 18 numbers also include “Angel Eyes,” “I’m In Love With The Honorable Mr. So And So,” “The Boy Next Door” and “Cry Me A River.”
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