On Mon, 20 Nov 2023 11:15:43 -0500, DianeE <
DianeE@NoSpam.net> wrote:
On 11/20/2023 8:47 AM, Roger Ford wrote:
REVIEW - Billy Wright - "Goin' Down Slow" - SAVOY 870;OCTOBER 1952
https://www.spontaneouslunacy.net/billy-wright-goin-down-slow-savoy-870/#more-93927
YOUTUBE - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSntcpaxjPA
SPONTANEOUS LUNACY VERDICT: 4/10
My favorite Billy Wright of the year- definite 7 for me
-----------
For me it's a decent reading but nowhere near the outstanding versions
by Ray Charles and Nappy Brown.
Nappy Brown - Going Down Slow [Live in Sweden] - 1983
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1G2KjWsZVc
Vocals - Nappy Brown
Guitar - Knut Reiersrud
Bass - Bertil Pettersson
Drums - Karsten Loly
Piano - Per "Slim" Notini
Tenor saxophone - Jan Lööf
Trombone - Fredrik John
Trumpet - Willie Cook
NAPPY BROWN's early heyday in the 1950s:
Nobody sounded much like Nappy Brown during the mid-'50s. Exotically
rolling his consonants with sing-song impunity (allegedly, Savoy
Records boss *Herman Lubinsky thought Brown was singing in Yiddish*),
bellowing the blues with gospel-inspired ferocity, Brown rode rock &
roll's first wave for a few glorious years before his records stopped
selling. But in the early '80s, Brown seemingly rose from the dead to
stage a comeback bid. He became ensconced once again as a venerable
blues veteran who'd stop at nothing (including rolling around the
stage in sexual simulation) to enthrall his audience.
Napoleon Brown's sanctified screams come naturally -- he grew up in
Charlotte, NC, singing gospel as well as blues. He was fronting a
spiritual aggregation, the Heavenly Lights, who were signed to the
roster of Newark, NJ's Savoy Records when Lubinsky convinced the
leather-lunged shouter to cross the secular line in 1954. Voilà, Nappy
Brown the R&B singer was born.
Brown brought hellfire intensity to his blues-soaked Savoy debut, "Is
It True," but it was "Don't Be Angry" the next year that caused his
fortunes to skyrocket. The sizzling rocker sported loads of Brown's
unique vocal gimmicks and a hair-raising tenor sax solo by Sam "The
Man" Taylor, becoming his first national smash. Those onboard New York
session aces didn't hurt the overall ambience of Brown's Savoy dates
-- Taylor's scorching horn further enlivened "Open Up That Door,"
while Budd Johnson or Al Sears took over on other equally raucous
efforts. Novelty-tinged upbeat items such as "Little by Little" and
"Piddily Patter Patter" defined Brown's output, but his throat-busting
turn on the 1957 blues number "The Right Time" (borrowed by Ray
Charles in short order) remains a highlight of Brown's early heyday.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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