Diane Blue is on a roll. She won the Massachusetts Blues Society’s Blues Challenge a few weeks back and she’ll be representing that society at the International Blues Competition in February. Aside from that, Blue has released an impressive live CD of blues standards and originals.
Live At Chan’s was recorded at John Chan’s upscale Chinese restaurant and listening room in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Blue performs her four originals and seven covers with backing from several of the Boston area’s A-list players. Yet, Blue’s voice is the star here. She delivers an exceptional performance on each track. With these carefully selected songs, she sends her powerful voice sailing through melody lines and rhythmic grooves with a grace seldom heard on the local scene.
Blue opens with her original “Don’t Stop,” a bluesy, jazzy romp that features a rainbow of melodies from trumpet and piano. Johnny “Blue Horn” Moriconi’s melody blares with glee in this uptempo, upbeat slice of delight. Cliff Spencer’s barrelhouse blues influenced piano offers up chunks of fun chords and puts them on top like a bow on top a gift. Timo Arthur chimes in on guitar to turn up the heat with feisty, firey notes. Bass player Lenny Bradford keeps in undercover, never trying to bring attention to his instrument, yet effortlessly moves each number along with a palpable groove.
Blue’s interpretation of “At Last” is powered mostly by her own very strong pipes. She also sings with a sense of joyful drama that makes the words come to life. Her two saxophonists, Bruce “The Goose” McGrath and Jimmy “2 suites” Capone conjure up the tenor magic that tugs the ear into its melody.
Blue shows her funky side with the Bill Wither’s 1970s classic “Use Me.” Keyboardist Cliff Spencer makes this song possible with heavy organ chords that literally build things up like architecture. Timo Arthur’s wide, wild, lead phrasing gets exquisite, becoming something more than a solo. Despite “Use Me” less dramatic and more dance oriented than her other selections, Blue still instills a vocal approach that sounds like an aural dance partner with the rhythm section, crisscrossing the groove like nobody’s business.
The sorrowful R&B ballad “Neither One Of Us(Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye) is the quietest number in Blue’s repertoire. This bittersweet ode to an end of a relationship has all the hesitancy, the longing, the second thoughts of the greatest songs ever written. Blue brings all of those forlorn emotions to the forefront. Packing this number with personal depth, Blue again shows she can achieve just about anything vocally.
“Fever” comes off with slick precision. If any one member of the band, including Blue herself, didn’t hit this one just right in the just the right places, the song would fall apart like a house of cards. The bass line moves sensuously forward. The piano strikes like a mystery. The horns are seductive. From there, Blue makes it own with a breathy, understated rasp.
The Staple Singers R&B classic “I’ll Take You There” is another crowd pleaser. With the kind of talent Blue has backing her on, she brings the tune to unusual heights. Classy guitar and organ riffs, hard-charging horns swells, and tasteful on time drumming from Jeff “Jungle Boy” Thompson breathe a lot of life into it. Arthur takes his solo high, brittle, and rhythmic. Blue does some of her best harmonica magic here. Her harp mirrors in quick succession what Arthur had previously whipped out, with equal class.
Blue has true soul in her voice. She makes you feel those really emotional numbers. Blue turns up the vocal voltage on the old blues standard “I’d Rather Go Blind.” She croons this one with elegance and emotion in her voice. She sustains notes and wrings out every bit of desperate sorrow from the words. Blue’s interpretation also gives greater insight into the depths of a woman’s heart.
This singer does even better with her own material. Blue performs her personal ode to her late mother, “Gypsy Child,” cascading her vocal phrases with nuggets of pleasant notes and undeniable emotion. Cliff Spencer amplifies the tenderness of Blue’s lament with his minor chord support as she walks right into the uniquely beautiful bond between mothers and daughters. It would be pointless to try to describe this song in words. It is just something that has to be felt when you’re listening to it.
A Blue original “Crazy, Hazy, Lazy” comes off like something everyone should already know, as if it’s been the radio for a generation. At once familiar and fresh, the organ and flute get sophisticated here as they play crisscrossing rhythms and melodies.
A funky blues original “Wonderful Addiction” creates the challenge of filling the emotional void suggested by its title. Moriconi’s trumpet goes into gear before Blue gets funk-ti-fied on her harp. The melody instruments swirl around each other as delicious as multi-flavored ice cream.
Blue and her band accomplish a lot on this “Live At Chan’s” CD. It also establishes Blues as one of New England’s premiere blues and soul singers.
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