LaVette!

Album review

Writing songs and bringing them to life is usually a two-person job. While hardcore Bob Dylan fans will argue he's the best singer of his songs, many others, including Bettye LaVette, have sung them better. The gritty soul vocalist has built a career interpreting other songwriters and now, after giving her all to collections of tunes by Dylan and the various artists of the British Invasion, LaVette has turned her interpretive gifts to the work of Randall Bramblett. Bramblett had a pair of unjustly ignored solo records in the '70s, but has been on something of a comeback since hooking up with New West records in the early aughts. Comebacks have also become LaVette's specialty. Since cutting her first record in 1962 (which made it onto the R&B charts) at age 16, LaVette has toured with James Brown, made a great record in Muscle Shoals that was shelved for over 35 years, and even had a disco hit. 

LaVette! was produced by Jay-Vee Records co-founder Steve Jordan (currently Charlie Watts' replacement in the Rolling Stones), who, along with bassist Pino Palladino, anchors a backing band of guitarists Christopher Bruce and Larry Campbell, and keyboardist L. Leon Pendarvis; the album also features an all-assemblage that includes John Mayer, Steve Winwood, Ray Parker, J., James Carter, Jon Batiste and Pedrito Martinez. The basic tracks were recorded at New York City's Electric Lady Studios, with a smattering of additional recordings done elsewhere. (LaVette's vocals were captured in seven other studios.)

All this firepower has been put to good use, as LaVette has again turned in another bravura vocal performance.  Whatever she's lost vocally—which truthfully isn't a whole lot—the 77-year-old has gained in brassiness and a deepened understanding of how a song can make people tick. "Mess About It" from Bramblett's 2008 album Now It's Tomorrow falls into a monster groove. The ballad "I'm Not Gonna Waste My Love," benefits from a sensitive pedal steel part by Larry Campbell and the strutting "Don't Get Me Started" plays to LaVette's strengths as a vocalist who will always tell it like it is. "Lazy (And I Know It)" is a talky, slow rant that will let her catch her breath during live performances and lower her no-nonsense attitude by laughing at herself and reveling in its honesty. Another late career triumph.  © Robert Baird/Qobuz