musicology #147

ladiesweek2 #1

(Marie Knight - Cry Me A River)

LISTEN

kicking off ladiesweek with a songbird whose recording career started in 1946 as a gospel singer, teaming up with cats like the Sunset Four and the Sam Price Trio, but it was in the summer of 1947 when Marie begun her association with Sister Rosetta Tharpe that her star began to shine bright, (a year later they cut the majestic ‘Up Above My Head, I Hear Music In The Air’)

Marie first hit the ’secular groove’ in 1953, moved to Mercury, stayed there for a few years and then began the transition from Rhythm and Blues into ‘Soul’ with a few choice pieces on various labels that include Baton, OKeh and Diamond.

this classic song, (arranged by Bert Keyes and produced by Stan Kahan), is from her final days at Musicor and should have provided her the commercial success that she richly deserved but it wasn’t to be and so she spent the next few years working for a telephone company !! (not returning to recording until the late 70’s)

for themusicologist this is the pick of a bunch of 1965 recordings that epitomise the ‘Uptown’ Soul sound of the period. an amazing reworking of a song sung by such luminaries as Sam Cooke and Dinah Washington but of all of them this is the ‘best’. !! more than likely it’s the Cookies singing backup but Marie’s voice soars above the clouds and hits the highest heights.