Thornetta Davis - Covered Live At The Music Menu

Album: Covered Live At The Music Menu
Size: 119,1 MB
Time: 51:37
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2001
Styles: Blues
Art: Front, back

1. I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water (4:21)
2. That's A Pretty Good Love (3:40)
3. C.C. Rider (4:17)
4. Please Send Me Someone To Love (7:53)
5. Wild Women Never Get The Blues (3:33)
6. Hound Dog (3:04)
7. Kissin' My Love (4:43)
8. I Just Wanna Make Love To You (4:43)
9. Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On (4:41)
10. Damn Your Eyes (6:05)
11. Rock Me A Little While (4:32)

For years Thornetta Davis has fronted Detroit blues bands from the Chisel Brothers and The James Cloyd Group to her own group, who you find in house on this disc. Recorded at her Wednesday night venue, The Music Menu in the Greektown area of downtown Detroit, this effort is the same raw and emotive blues you will hear at any of her performances. A singer raised in the church choir, entranced with gospel , and one who continues to sing publicly in church every Sunday, Thornetta has developed a strength, range, and timbre that carries her vocals to any height required. A beautifully engaging singer, Thornetta will draw you into her romantic ballads, spicy love tales, or blues tales of love gone wrong with little resistance. Her recorded mannerisms echo her involved stage show and reveal her intimate associations with her music.

In support of her dazzling vocals, she has assembled a sharp and well tuned band. On lead guitar is Brett Lucas; a blindingly clean and viciously intense axeman. Laying out the second-story power rhythms and interacting lead lines is Phil Hale on the keyboards. The engine room has Todd Glass blistering the skins and Jerry Jibilian on the hard hittin' bass. Lucas has also co-penned (with F. Mendelson) the one original tune here "That's A Pretty Good Love".

This full eleven song set carries ten covers and well known standards including Willie Dixon's "I Just Wanna Make Love To You", the Cheatham's "Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On", Hound Dog's "Hound Dog", and Ma Rainey's "C.C. Rider". Thornetta also puts her twist upon the deep blues of "Damn Your Eyes", Bill Withers' "Kissing My Love", and even "Rock Me A Little While" made famous by the Doobie Brothers. Whatever it is though, you can be sure it's got the Davis twist - 'cause she will supercharge any composition she lays her hands on. Look to this disc for some of the finest reinterpretations and rearrangements on the market.

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Thornetta Davis - Honest Woman

Album: Honest Woman
Size: 139,6 MB
Time: 60:09
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2016
Styles: Blues
Art: Full

1. When My Sister Sings The Blues (1:24)
2. I Gotta Sang The Blues (5:11)
3. That Don't Appease Me (4:25)
4. Set Me Free (3:35)
5. Am I Just A Shadow (5:38)
6. I Need A Whole Lotta Lovin' (To Satisfy Me) (3:57)
7. I'd Rather Be Alone (6:09)
8. I Believe (Everything Gonna Be Alright) (5:45)
9. Sister Friend Indeed (3:45)
10. Get Up And Dance Away Your Blues (4:24)
11. Can We Do It Again (7:15)
12. Honest Woman (4:46)
13. Feels Like Religion (3:52)

Twenty years might seem like a long time in between records, but for blues singer Thornetta Davis, it's always been about getting it right. Started to sing at age fifteen, joined several bands as vocalist, released Sunday Morning Music in 1996. Fast forward to today and Honest Woman reveals Davis as a mature, commanding vocalist, introspective composer, and demanding producer. Long before Motown, Detroit had an illustrious history associated with the blues going back to the days of Hastings Street, and Paradise Valley (1940's & '50's) so for Davis to be named Detroit's Queen of the Blues, is much more than a title, it is recognition from the people who know the music and its importance to the city.

This is hard edged urban blues, staying true to the trials and tribulations of lost love and heartbreak, yet is enveloped in high hopes for tomorrow by a woman who is as tender as she is tough. Davis wrote all of the material, and the songs are personal statements that take a lifetime to achieve, and careful listening to assess. "I Gotta Sing The Blues" kicks things off as a duet with harmonica wizard Kim Wilson of Fabulous Thunderbirds fame. This track lays the groundwork for the up-tempo direction of the record, continuing with "That Don't Appease Me," a guitar riff driven rocker, while slipping into the funky gospel tinged "Set Me Free," featuring the Larry McCray Band.

It's down to the gritty blues with "Am I Just A Shadow," a mournful ballad that has Davis presenting her capability to hang emotions on the microphone. "I'd Rather Be Alone," is another slow burner that is from the Etta James school of hard knocks, and where Davis really shines. She pours on the sensuality with the rumba paced "I Need A Whole Lotta Loving To Satisfy Me," and the grinding "Can We Do It Again," which are perfect for those late night sets at the local blues club.

There are further shades of gospel in "I Believe (Everything Gonna Be Alright)" which leads into "Sister Friends Indeed," an opus to women everywhere to stand together and help each other. Excellent arranging in the music, intensifying with the expanded choir, making this one of the highlights of the record. Davis brings it home on "Honest Woman," complete with horns, for the classic rhythm and blues feeling she knows all too well. She wraps it up in soulful recognition of her faith on "Feels Like Religion," as the spiritual is cranked up with electric guitars and old fashioned shouting, raising the roof, for the light to shine in.

Thornetta Davis is a one woman blues machine, she cuts an imposing figure, has the voice that demands attention, and in live performances she controls the stage as she takes care of business. Blues singers are a rare and endangered species, for the circumstances and situations that were the foundation for the music, have changed dramatically in the modern age. Davis is a welcome throwback to the performers who lived the life they sang about, and that's as honest as one can get. /James Nadal, All About Jazz

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

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The Knickerbocker All-Stars - Love Makes A Woman (Feat. Darcel Wilson & Thornetta Davis)

Size: 84,1 MB
Time: 36:00
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2018
Styles: Blues, R&B
Art: Front

01. So Soon (Feat. Darcel Wilson) (3:24)
02. Higher & Higher (Feat. Darcel Wilson) (3:42)
03. Good Rockin' Daddy (Feat. Thornetta Davis) (3:38)
04. Talk To Me, Talk To Me (Feat. Darcel Wilson) (4:03)
05. Love Makes A Woman (Feat. Darcel Wilson) (3:41)
06. Go Girl! (3:38)
07. Don't Cry Baby (Feat. Thornetta Davis) (3:49)
08. Wild Wild Young Men (Feat. Darcel Wilson) (3:11)
09. Nick Of Time (Feat. Thornetta Davis) (3:49)
10. Since You've Been Gone (Feat. Darcel Wilson) (2:59)

Love Makes a Woman is The Knickerbocker All-Stars 4th recording. When two phenomenal vocalists such as Darcel Wilson and Thornetta Davis get together for a session, it’s going to be special. Love Makes a Woman was inspired by the great female soul and R&B singers who popularized the genre. These carefully selected tunes barely scratch the surface of the sacred music of early Soul and R&B. This recording spans a wide range of emotional and musical content including an instrumental that allows the band to let loose.
Darcel Wilson has one of the more sensual and engaging voices, especially when she serenades her listeners as performed on “Talk to Me.” She has worked as an instructor of theory, ensembles and voice at Berklee College of Music in Boston since 1998. Darcel’s contribution to this album was invaluable.
For blues enthusiasts, Thornetta Davis, Detroit’s Queen of the Blues, needs no introduction. Thornetta is an internationally recognized vocalist and songwriter and has won 30 Detroit Music Awards. Her voice is confident, vibrant and sends a clear message of the meaning and emotion of her songs. There are very few singers who can perform Bonnie Raitt’s “Nick of TIme” with similar compassion and tenderness.
As Duke Ellington announced at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, “I hope you will enjoy these things – we’ll start by Just Scratchin’ the Surface.”

Love Makes A Woman MP3
Love Makes A Woman FLAC

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Thornetta Davis - Sunday Morning Music

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:43
Size: 102.4 MB
Styles: R&B/Soul/Blues
Year: 1996
Art: Front

[4:11] 1. Cry
[3:59] 2. Helpless
[4:11] 3. Try To Remember
[4:30] 4. Sunset
[3:59] 5. Only One
[3:20] 6. You Haven't Done Nothin'
[4:24] 7. Box Of Memories
[3:35] 8. Sunday Morning
[3:44] 9. The Deal
[6:05] 10. And I Spin
[2:41] 11. Come Go With Me

Working with her previous employers from Big Chief, specifically bassist Matt O'Brien, guitarist Phil Durr, and drummer Mike Danner, turned out to be the perfect approach for Thornetta Davis' solo debut. It's not quite Big Chief with a different lead singer, happily, with Sunday Morning Music showcasing her affinity for the blues while not losing the powerful punch of that band. Davis' singing is just wonderful -- she's got a rich, warm voice that she doesn't show off with, avoiding pointless vocal high jumps and wails for confident, often soaring delivery. She can really turn it on when needed, and the results on "Helpless" and the hard-rocking "The Deal" are well worth it. There's one cover song, Stevie Wonder's "You Haven't Done Nothin'," which Davis does a great job on and then some (a duo between the two would be amazing). She splits the lyrical work with album producer Al Sutton, another Big Chief vet, both having a good ear for statements of love, heartbreak and inspiration that avoid warmed-over clichés. "Only One," a message to a departed partner, and "Sunday Morning," a reflective comparison of past beauty and hopes and present, grimmer realities delivered over a lovely acoustic guitar melody, are two standouts. Her backing bandmates, meanwhile, create excellent music for her to work with, touching on everything from full funk chops to, on the concluding "Come Go with Me," delightful retro-soul. Various guests stop by to make things almost a Detroit-area love-in, from keyboardist Chris Codish to Kid Rock, who creates the beat on the striking, passionate "Sunset," one of the album's best tracks. Black Crowes member Eddie Harsch also adds keys and clavinet at various points, easily slotting into the band's smoky sound. Through it all, Davis sounds on top of her game, and the whole album makes for a worthwhile, invigorating listen. ~Ned Raggett

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