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Lady Blackbird: Slang Spirituals

By Gareth Thompson
October 2, 2024
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In the aftermath of George Floyd's killing in 2020, the relatively unknown Marley Munroe dropped a cover of Nina Simone's 1966 song "Blackbird." Having adopted the title into her new stage name of

Lady Blackbird

vocals

" data-original-title="" title="">Lady Blackbird, she took sombre pride in seeing this version chime with a fiercely engaged Black Lives Matter community. This came purely by zeitgeist chance after decades of endeavour to establish herself.

"Blackbird" was also a taster for her 2021 debut album Black Acid Soul on the London-based Foundation label. Along with producer and guitarist

Chris Seefried

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Chris Seefried, she tackled works by the likes of Tim Hardin and

Allen Toussaint

piano and vocals
1938 - 2015

" data-original-title="" title="">Allen Toussaint, while adding words to the prayerful

Bill Evans

piano
1929 - 1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Evans number "Peace Piece." Resilient and vulnerable, unsettling and sultry, it made for a vivid debut of chamber jazz.

For this second outing, Lady Blackbird draws upon gospel music's powerhouse aesthetic, her body a pulsating sound chamber. This time she and Seefried have crafted their own material and the results are wildly seductive. Away from the autumnal vibe of their first effort, Slang Spirituals evokes a sap-rising springtide and glorious summers of awakening. From the outset with "Let Not (Your Heart Be Troubled)," Lady Blackbird has the aura of a flower child singing in tongues of fire from a heavenly scroll. Her fantastic vocals testify about thorned roses growing from a stone, as Seefried's sparkling production captures a certain Muscle Shoals essence.

"Like A Woman" sashays in with conviction, blessed by grace-filled responses from the backing vox. Even greater is the hallelujah hot stuff of "Reborn," where Lady Blackbird outmuscles allcomers in the anthemic stakes. But not everything here is about reclaiming her inner warrior. The acoustic pleadings of "Man On A Boat" and "Someday We'll Be Free" would each grace an intimate night at Ronnie Scott's. Then consider "When The Game Is Played On You" and "Whatever His Name," which enter altered states of perception like

Don Cherry

trumpet
1936 - 1995

" data-original-title="" title="">Don Cherry merging with Minnie Riperton. Indeed, there is a sense in these songs of the what the 1960s scholar Gordon Wasson called "god- generated-within," his response to the negativity around psychedelic innuendo. Lady Blackbird grew up a devout Christian in New Mexico, but her music separates the joy of religious experience from strict religion itself.

Elsewhere, both "The City" and "If I Told You" are like soul celebrations from

Stevie Wonder

vocals
b.1950

" data-original-title="" title="">Stevie Wonder's stomping ground, while the bittersweet ballad "No One Can Love Me (Like You Do)" is rapturous.

On her breastbone Lady Blackbird has a tattoo of an Egyptian ankh, the symbol of eternal life. The sun god Ra is often shown holding an ankh to symbolize his powers of creation. The actual hieroglyph is a teardrop-shaped hoop with a cross below it, to represent the sun making its path upward over the horizon. If this superb album's shout of redemption also sends Lady Blackbird's fortune skyward, then karma will have been well served.

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Track Listing

Let Not (Your Heart Be Troubled); Like A Woman; Reborn; Man On A Boat; When The Game Is Played On You; The City; Matter Of Time; If I Told You; No One Can Love Me (Like You Do); Someday We'll Be Free; Whatever His Name.

Personnel

Lady Blackbird

vocals

Chris Seefried

guitar

Jon Flaugher

bass

Kenneth Crouch

keyboards

Tamir Barzilay

drums

Album information

Title: Slang Spirituals | Year Released: 2024 | Record Label: BMG

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