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Etta James is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has been nominated for the Grammy award six times, owns one Grammy, is on multiple movie sound tracks, written a book, and has been a vocal legend for decades. Beginning her career in the mid fifties, she was a star through the sixties with a string of great hits including "I'd Rather Go Blind," and "At Last." Etta James is truly a blues music matriarch. One who continues to work hard, and still makes fine music. But Etta James is a legend not satisfied to rest on her laurels. In the nineties, she released a great record called Live from San Francisco, and has been in the studio and on the road regularly, putting out at least one record a year for the last five or six years. Miss James is now poised to release another album on Windham Hill's Private Artist called Matriarch of the Blues.

Vrrooomm ... a powerful revved up engine starts the new CD as Miss Etta James gets ready to take us for a spin. With key in the ignition, the engine purring, the strains of Bob Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody" rise up on guitar and some very clean horns as EJ performs the nearly seven minute song with effortless power.  Miss James once said that if she can feel it, she can sing it. Her talent lies in translating that feeling from her heart to her listener's ear. For the second track we feel her sly smile as she sings, "Don't Let My Baby Ride." She and her band (which includes her sons Donto and Sametto who also share production work on this release) flow through Al Green's "Rhymes," the third track, after which she moves into the Big O section of the record. She has enjoyed singing Otis Redding before and here she covers a song made famous by him, "Try a Little Tenderness." But unlike the great Mr. Redding who roughed up the song quite a bit when he performed it, James goes with a relaxed jazz delivery that stays tender throughout. In between Otis Redding songs she returns a favor to the Rolling Stones. They've covered her in the past so she moans and groans through a rolling version of "Miss You." Plainly a very good blues rock song that fits her somehow, although this version may be just a little bit too long. EJ returns to Otis Redding for the next tune on the record and does "Hawg for Ya," a straight up blues number incorporating tremolo guitars and some nice blues harp that could shake the rafters, if I had rafters. After that raucous down and dirty performance, she slows the pace way down and transforms into a blues crooner again with a ballad called "You're Gonna Make Me Cry." Staying with the blues now, the guitar lights up the dolorous "Walking the Back Streets" as Miss James magnificently laments a lost love. The next cut, "Lets Straighten Things Out," begins with Miss Etta James speaking over the intro about men ("most of the time it's a man that made things crooked in the first place"), as the tune converts from a Spanish feel into a smooth blues number that EJ delivers so well. The record proceeds to wrap up with a spirited take on Credence Clearwater Revival's "Born on a Bayou," an emotive Etta crying "Come Back Baby," and a fun boogie woogie "Hound Dog" that I think Elvis would have liked.

Never scared to take any type of song and make it her own, Etta James and her band does it again with this mix of old rock and roll and new blues. One of the strengths of this record, like many of her recent releases, is her choice of classic songs that she then effectively adapts to her own style; mixing the blues with other forms of music. In fact, her last record was a tasty country music/ blues hash. Matriarch of the Blues is an entertaining, exuberant CD covering many moods of the wonderful Miss Etta James.

Tony LaFianza 12/7/2000

When a legendary singer releases a collection of legendary songs, the listener is in for a treat.  Jazz fans and lovers of great music and emotive singing will not be disappointed with the newest CD from Etta James, titled Matriarch of the Blues on Windham Hill’s Private Music label.  Drawing from over 45 years of experience in singing jazz and the blues, Ms. James exhibits a maturity and experience that shines through the musical haze of bluesy B-3 organs, saucy Les Paul guitars, and funky brass with “'tude.”

From the opening track, "Gotta Serve Somebody" by Bob Dylan, James sets a tone for the whole recording, matching poignant lyrics with a snappy backdrop of rhthym, brass, organs, and vocals.  The tone is classic blues, singing of love lost and found, then lost again.  The pining, “Hawg for Ya” says “I’m a hawg for ya, baby / Gonna root all ‘round your door,” while the one-four-five chord structure of the genre thumps its message home.  Other highlights are Al Green’s "Rhymes," a toe-tapping, head-bobbing jam with funky horns and a solid beat, and Creedence Clearwater‘s “Born On the Bayou.”

James’ meaty voice is surrounded by skilled musicians playing tightly together, yet with enough improvisation and riffing to add plenty of flavor.  One can vividly imagine a smoky club in Memphis with patrons crying their own blues into their drinks throughout the show.  It is a bittersweet combination, such talented presentation of such sorrowful emotion, but that is the mystique of good blues music. 

Matriarch of the Blues compares favorably with Glenn Kaiser Band's Winter Sun for those who like a straight-up-no-chaser blues sound, but lyrically may be a little too strong for newcomers to the genre.  The lyrics are spiritual in the emotional sense, and not meant to convey theology in the traditional sense.  This is a woman singing her heart out, broken though it may be.  It will connect with the listener, and combined with the full sound of the band will transport you to another time and place.

Zik Jackson 12/11/2000

BONUS LINK:  Etta James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.  See her inductee bio at http://www.rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=128.