1. Unbelievable
2. When I Was a Young Girl
3. Bless Us All
4. Stop
5. Undamned
6. Complicated
7. Where A Life Goes
8. Just Between You And Me And The Wall, You’re A Fool
9. Wait
10. Step Away
11. Worthy
Bettye LaVette - Vocals
Jay Bellrose – Drums, percussion (tracks 1-8, 10, 11)
Doyle Bramhall II - Guitar (tracks 1-11) - Bass (tracks 7, 9)
Chris Bruce - Bass - (tracks 1-6, 8, 10, 11) - Acoustic guitar (tracks 7, 9)
Patrick Warren - Piano, Hammond organ, Chamberlin
Ben Chapoteau - Baritone sax
Levon Henry - Tenor sax
Linton Smith - Trumpet (track 10)
Bettye LaVette is a force of nature. Although she began singing in her native Detroit when she was just sixteen and had a top ten R&B hit with My Man - He's A Lovin’ Man in 1962, her career has been a roller-coaster ride of intermittent success. Bouncing around
from record label to record label, and to some extent covering a multiplicity of musical styles, it took until 2005 with the release of I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise, that she gained the acknowledgement that she was a solid blues/jazz singer with which to be reckoned. This
latest offering Worthy is aptly named, and we should hoist a pint of thanks to the UK label Cherry Red Records for releasing the album.
Working from a set-list that is predominately from the pop, blues, and R&B world, LaVette takes the full measure of the genres to deliver resounding
interpretations of the compositions. She starts with Bob Dylan’s Unbelievable which has a redolent concept that Bettye’s croaky voice works to
perfection. Mick Jagger & Keith Richards’ rocker Complicated jumps out of the grooves with drummer Bellrose’s back-beat a perfect compliment
to LaVette’s interpretation of the lyrics.
Just Between You And Me And The Wall, You're A Fool
by James Brown is down-home blues, that exudes all the characteristic coloration associated with the style. It gives LaVette the underpinnings to offer her
soulful rendition of the number. The Lennon/McCartney composition Wait is not one of their better-known numbers. But here with Chris Bruce’s
acoustic guitar opening the track, and then acting as the supporting background for LaVette’s evocative vocal, it seems perfectly suited to the tune.
Finally the title track Worthy is a slow blues-tinged offering, that gives LaVette’s resonant and soulful style a frame on which to hang her vocal
excursion.
Despite a tumultuous life that Bettye LaVette unsparingly chronicles in her autobiography A Woman Like Me, she is a survivor and continues to
demonstrate that she is a figure of inspiring confidence.
Pierre Giroux
CD Reviews
Cherry Red CDBRED 649
