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JEAN SHY
Blow Top
Blues
King Edward Music -
77712 |
Jean Shy is one of the most
versatile vocalists on the planet. On her previous
album, 2008’s magnificent The Blues Got
Soul, the veteran Chicago-born singer
delved into a mix of soul, blues, rock, and gospel,
all delivered with power and passion, with backing
from her tight German band, the Shy Guys. Shy’s
newly issued 13th CD, Blow
Top Blues, presents her in more of a
jazz-oriented mode, although there’s still some
soul, rock, and straight urban blues among the 15
tracks. The booklet credits are not entirely clear,
but at least some of the selections appeared on
earlier releases and were recorded between 1993 and
2003 with three different bands: the Shy Guys,
Poland’s Jazz Band Ball Orchestra (JBBO), and one
billed as the Real Climax Band Cologne (not to be
confused with England’s Climax Blues Band). Several
others, including the autobiographical rocker
Livin’ The Blues, feature synthesizers and drum
machines.
The title track and
Evil Gal Blues were early Dinah Washington
hits, both written by renowned jazz critic Leonard
Feather. Shy sings them with sass, backed by the
Climax band. Blow Top Blues is treated to a
medium tempo swing groove and features the
commanding guitar work of Guenter Allmer. Evil
Gal Blues is rendered as a hard-driving
shuffle, with solos by high-note trumpeter Martin
Reuthner and two-fisted pianist Uli Stollenwerk.
Another blues with Climax, the classic The Night
Time Is The Right Time, is given a shuffle
arrangement at a much faster clip than Nappy Brown
and Ray Charles had taken it years earlier. JBBO
leads Shy down an even more straight-ahead jazz path
on three of her own compositions, of which Maze
(I Just Wanna Escape) is especially
outstanding. And, with the Shy Guys, she nicely
swings Fred McDowell’s You Got To Move.
Shy can really belt the
blues, but she also has a tender side on which her
breathy tones at times suggest an Esther Phillips
influence. Among the disc’s strongest ballad
performances are the standard Willow Weep For Me,
Sam Dees’ Love All The Hurt Away, and a
sweet, heartfelt version of Where Have All The
Flowers Gone? She and Climax give Pete Seeger’s
anti-war anthem a For Your Precious Love–like
triplet arrangement, with Shy singing the lyrics
entirely in German as Sag Mir Wo Die Blumen Sind,
a translation by Max Colpert that was originally
performed by Marlene Dietrich.
—Lee Hildebrand
