Zora Young - 2 albums: I Got The Right To Sing The Blues / The French Connection

Album: I Got The Right To Sing The Blues
Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 47:19
Size: 108.9 MB
Styles: Chicago blues vocals
Year: 1996
Art: Full

[3:50] 1. New Blowtop Blues
[3:02] 2. Stroking
[4:35] 3. Bus Station
[4:07] 4. Football Widow
[4:42] 5. Tired of Travelling
[7:00] 6. Stumbling Blocks and Stepping Stones
[4:35] 7. The Thrill Is Gone
[2:41] 8. I Got The Right To Sing The Blues
[6:53] 9. Baby, Won't You Ride with Me Tonight
[3:05] 10. Hoochie Coochie Woman
[2:44] 11. I'm Ready

Despite the prominent presence of celebrated blues artist Howlin' Wolf in her family tree, singer Zora Young grew up singing not blues, but gospel. Even when the Mississippi native shook off her roots at the age of seven to relocate with her family to Chicago, she attended the Greater Harvest Baptist Church and continued to sing gospel. It wasn't until later that she switched over to R&B, and evolved into a powerhouse blues vocalist with three decades of experience behind her. She has performed with a long list of artists, including Junior Wells, Jimmy Dawkins, Bobby Rush, Buddy Guy, Professor Eddie Lusk, Albert King, and B.B. King. Her recording credits include collaborations with Willie Dixon, Sunnyland Slim, Mississippi Heat, Paul deLay, and Maurice John Vaughn, among others.

Her own recordings as a solo artist include releases from the labels Deluge, Black Lightning, and Delmark. Young has also performed on both stage and television. She is a veteran of more than 30 tours of Europe, and has been a featured performer three times at the Chicago Blues Festival. She has performed throughout North America, and on stages in Italy, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Greece, Austria, Tai Pei, and Turkey. Her albums include 1991's Travelin' Light from Deluge Records and two releases from Delmark Records, Learned My Lesson in 2000 and Tore Up from the Floor Up in 2005. ~bio by Linda Seida

Zora Young- Vocals; Spike Ravenswood- Guitar; Vince Willis- Keyboards; Christopher Lopes- Bass; James Bell- Drums.

thank you zivoin for your original post in TBC.
I Got The Right To Sing The Blues

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Album: The French Connection
Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 69:31
Size: 159.2 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Year: 2009
Art: Front

[4:05] 1. Better Be Ready
[5:07] 2. Goin' Back To Memphis
[5:16] 3. Wang Dang Doodle
[3:44] 4. I'm In Love With You
[5:53] 5. Honey Bee
[3:18] 6. Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You
[4:00] 7. Just A Closer Walk With Thee
[4:21] 8. See See Rider
[5:56] 9. In The Ghetto
[5:03] 10. Mystery Train
[4:33] 11. I'm Movin' On
[8:31] 12. Toxic
[3:43] 13. Goin' Back To Memphis (vers 2)
[5:54] 14. Rock Me Baby

Zora Young is likely the most internationally traveled female blues singer over three decades. So it is logical for her to hook up with a band of musicians from France, where she has toured extensively. This recording is a combination of studio dates and live performances done over a 16-month period while Young made separate tour dates, all in conjunction with multi-instrumentalist Bobby Dirninger, his various handpicked band ates, and the Paris-based Natural Blues Band, all who are very competent in playing authentic Chicago-style electric blues. The material ranges from some classic tunes everybody knows, to pop, gospel, country songs, and a lone original apiece from Young and Dirninger. Remaining one of the premier female blues vocalists, right up there in league with the late Koko Taylor, Young's got her thing goin' on, carrying in her pipes the soul-sending tradition of her predecessors, while always adding her own somewhat elegant, sly, bawdy, only slightly nasty personal style to the proceedings. Dirninger is impressive as a band leader, and he plays everything -- acoustic or electric guitar, slide guitar, organ, piano, percussion -- while singing just a little bit. He seems to always know what Young needs as inspiration, whether unplugged or amped up. Of the concert performances live at the Caf' Conc' D'Ensisheim in Alsace, the horn-fired, slide guitar-incited shuffle "Wang Dang Doodle," or a slow and sighing "Honey Bee" would certainly do respective progenitors Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters proud. A version of Hank Snow's "I'm Movin' On" is done spot-on and rocking, while the steady rollin' "Rock Me Baby" might sound typical to some, but Young is truly in the zone, and hitting on all cylinders. Young's own "Toxic" is a slow, low-down and dirty blues where Dirninger's talent on the piano shines through. Studio sessions done in Limoges, which many of these French musicians call home, comprise the bulk of the recording, and the results are mixed depending on the material. "Better Be Ready" is surprising in that it has a much more contemporary, organ groove-blues feel, despite the overt wah-wah psychedelic guitar and vocoder underpinnings. The upper-end tracks include two versions of Sunnyland Slim's "Goin' Back to Memphis," one with a modified, modern blues style featuring a shaker and Dirninger's slide guitar in a cool attitude, the other in acoustic trim, done faster. "Mystery Train" rambles the boogie with conviction, while "See See Rider" again features the shaker in shuffle mode. Unfortunately, "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" is played out of tune, "In the Ghetto" is a poor choice though Young's spoken tales of her travails begins to qualify the selection, and Bob Dylan's "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You" in vocal duet with Dirninger is kinda corny. Zora Young is an accomplished singer, one that any blues fan can appreciate, and she is well-represented on this date, just not to her maximum effect. ~ Michael G. Nastos

Zora Young (vocals); Bobby Dirninger (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar, piano, organ, percussion).

The French Connection

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