Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Spanky Wilson & The Quantic Soul Orchestra: I'm Thankful

251

Spanky Wilson & The Quantic Soul Orchestra: I'm Thankful

By

View read count
Spanky Wilson & The Quantic Soul Orchestra: I'm Thankful
In previous musical lives, Spanky Wilson recorded more than half a dozen albums and performed and recorded with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Marvin Gaye, Jimmy Smith and Sammy Davis Jr. The Philadelphia-born and bred musician moved to Los Angeles then in the early 1980s relocated to France, where she spent more than a decade as a jazz singer before returning to LA in 2000.

Upon her return, she was "discovered by multi-instrumentalist and producer Will Holland. Before they met, Holland had become a fan of Wilson's feisty and soulful voice through her hard-to-find records, and he found her through the help of a French journalist. He brought Wilson in to sing on Mishaps Happening, the 2003 release by Holland's electronica nom de plume, Quantic.

Here Wilson fronts Holland's live performance ensemble the Quantic Soul Orchestra and comes back home to American soul, masterfully snapping off her vocals like a sharp-tongued spiritual heir to Aretha "The Queen of Soul Franklin. Featured in several instrumental reprises of Wilson's vocal tracks, the Orchestra sounds more like Wilson's co-star than her support band, and the rhythm section in particular plumps up on several New Orleans fatback grooves garnished with Memphis country funk.

Vocal (to open) and instrumental (to close) versions of the title track mash up the insistent itch of classic James Brown with second-line snare drum rolls and snaps. "That's How It Was may sound like cheery fun, but it's a screed about post-Katrina Gulf Coast recovery efforts cast in torrid, thick Crescent City funk; Holland's production makes the snare drum crack like thunder and the bass sound like a big funk whirlpool that swirls the music around.

Wilson sounds supremely cocksure in "A Woman Like Me ("...don't grow on no tree, just so you know) and the second verse of "Blood from a Stone, a West Coast Latin funk groove with a bass line and horn chart that sound poised to cruise through "Low Rider but then veer tangentially away.

But Wilson also knows to not leave you without a smile, and she delivers it with a romp through the warhorse "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover. Its frantic arrangement—an up-tempo blues two-step tugged in the opposite direction by lazy mariachi horns—presents her best vocal performance, probably because it challenges her voice the most.

Track Listing

I

Personnel

Spanky Wilson: vocals; Eric Biondo: trumpet; Mick Bolger: trumpet; Joel Bowers: baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone; Sheffer Bruton: trombone; Matt Demeritt: tenor saxophone; Will Holland: guitar, tambourine, brass; Russell Knight: drums; David Ralicke: baritone saxophone; Phil Ranelin: trombone; Tom Rawls: trombone; Mike Simmonds: violin; Todd M. Simon: trumpet, flugelhorn, horn arrangements, horn conductor; Tracy Wannomae: alto saxophone.

Album information

Title: I'm Thankful | Year Released: 2007 | Record Label: Ubiquity Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.