ETTA JAMES
Blue Gardenia
Private Music

Etta James has had a career that has been strengthened by her ability to make changes to her style as musical trends have changed. But the basis of her style is a strong affinity for rhythm & blues and a husky voice that can convey worlds of emotion. She began her career working with R&B legend Johnny Otis. She wrote and recorded the hit single "Roll with Me Henry" (which became "Wallflower"), and became a big hit as part of Otis' show. She remained popular through the 1950s and in 1960 signed with the Chicago-based Chess label, kicking her career into overdrive. She had major hits such as "All I Could Do Was Cry" and "My Dearest Darling", as well as a duet with Harvey Fuqua on "If I Can't Have You". Her style began to incorporate more gospel and blues elements around this time as well. She remained a major chart-topper for the first half of the 60s, but later in the decade her career suffered from drug addiction, though she still managed to score hits in 1968 with "Tell Mama" and 1970 with "Losers Weepers". Her career might have ended there had she not entered drug rehab in 1972.

Etta returned in 1974 to record two more albums for Chess, but neither was a great success. Nonetheless, she was recognized as a major talent among R&B and jazz fans who packed the Montreaux and Monterey Jazz Festivals to see her perform. By 1977 she signed a new contract with Warner Brothers and recorded the album Deep In the Night with Jerry Wexler at the boards. Though the album was an excellent collection that harkened back to James' 1960s heyday, it didn't sell particularly well. James has continued to tour and play at clubs through the 1980s and has seen her music turn up on some film soundtracks. Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in the singer's work.

In the mid-90s, Etta began to work in a jazzier vein, recording Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday with pianist Cedar Walton and followed that up with another jazz standard album, Time After Time. She followed these up with Love's Been Rough On Me, a torchy, Nashville-tinged recording, and Life, Love, and the Blues, a return to her blues and R&B roots. Now she teams up once again with Cedar Walton on Blue Gardenia, a fine collection of standards that allow James to really shine.

The disc opens with "This Bitter Earth" a song (like the title track) recorded by a singer who is surely one of James' influences, Dinah Washington (interestingly, only Washington and Ruth Brown had more top 10 hits than James between 1950 and 1970). As you might expect, Etta hits the bluesy inflection of the song just a bit harder than Dinah did. The horn section comprised of Red Holloway (tenor), George Bohannon (trombone), and Ronnie Buttacavoli (trumpet) provide nice support from the get go. Walton's piano comes to the fore in "He's Funny that Way", providing beautiful accompaniment to Etta's voice as well as a solo turn that has the singer encouraging him with a "yeah". Buttacavoli lights up "There Is Not Greater Love" with his solo and fills while Red Holloway adds a Lester Young-inspired touch to "In My Solitude." There isn't a loser track in the bunch, although the tempo is mid-range and bluesy throughout. On songs like "My Man" and "Cry Me A River" (featuring very tasteful guitar work from Josh Sklair) Etta demonstrates that any technique she may have lost with age is more than made up for in the depth and passion of her interpretations, which simply wouldn't have been possible earlier in her career.