Home »
Jazz Articles » Album Review » Odetta: Lookin For A Home
Odetta: Lookin For A Home
In 2000 Odetta released a marvelous comeback album entitled
Blues Everywhere I Go that was nominated for a Grammy Award. Her recent follow-up album,
Lookin For A Home: Thanks to Leadbelly, is every bit as good, perhaps even better. A tight band has gotten even tighter and Odetta’s comfort level with these musicians is something to behold. Odetta has a remarkably expressive creativity as a vocal interpreter of the blues. Her phrasing extends syllables and words, pulling them up short, using spaces and silences, pitch and volume like an accomplished jazz musician. On
Lookin For A Home, she reinterprets blues and popular music standards, such as "Goodnight Irene," "Rock Island Line," "Easy Rider," and "Midnight Special" in her laid back, unpredictable style. Much credit should also go to her band for intuitively sharing the spirit of Odetta’s approach. Her rapport with this band is uncanny, musicians and singer nudging and inspiring each other every step along the way. In short, Odetta and her band have recorded two extraordinary albums; it is difficult to imagine what this group of talented musicians will do next, but I do suspect it will be well worth the wait. Highly recommended.
Track Listing
Goodnight Irene; You Don
Personnel
Odetta, vocals; Seth Farber, piano and organ; Mike Merritt, acoustic bass; Jimmy
Vivino, guitars and banjo; Shawn Felton or Richard Crooks, drums; James
Saporito, percussion; Fred Koella, violin and mandolin; Clarence
Album information
Title: Lookin For A Home
| Year Released: 2003
| Record Label: M.C. Records
PREVIOUS / NEXT
Support All About Jazz
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.
