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Posted

This year really starts on recurring bad news ....

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A treasured soul artist who brought a lot of sunshine into my life .... thank you for the music and rest in peace, Mr. OTIS CLAY

Posted

One of the true greats, in my view, and one of my personal favorites. This hurts.                                               RIP, Otis. Rest easy, and save a seat for me.

Posted (edited)
54 minutes ago, paul secor said:

I can agree with that in general, but he had moments that took him above that status.

As the "Journeyman" status in Soul would be based on several relocations and Record Label (btw most of these were short lived too)  switches, I believe most of the Soul Singers could be labeled superficially this way .... having said that, Otis Clay had his shot for a "higher level" but circumstances at Hi Records at that time (as discussed before) prevented him getting there ....

Edited by soulpope
Posted

I just saw this now.  I really can't agree with labeling Otis Clay a "journeyman."   As I wrote above, I have long considered him as one of the true greats, somebody who put Julius Cheeks and Sam Cooke together in a unique and compelling fashion.  Whether singing gospel or secular, Otis Clay could deliver a lyric in a manner that could make you a believer.  His best live shows were among the best musical experiences I ever had in my life.  You would come out feeling like your soul had been rejuvenated.

Yes, he had his distractors, including Robert Christagou, who always seemed to love bashing him.   Christagou also bashed Sam Cooke.  So that puts Otis in very good company. :)

 For me, there is probably nobody alive any more who I would enjoy seeing live as much as Otis Clay.

Posted
11 hours ago, John L said:

I just saw this now.  I really can't agree with labeling Otis Clay a "journeyman."   As I wrote above, I have long considered him as one of the true greats, somebody who put Julius Cheeks and Sam Cooke together in a unique and compelling fashion.  Whether singing gospel or secular, Otis Clay could deliver a lyric in a manner that could make you a believer.  His best live shows were among the best musical experiences I ever had in my life.  You would come out feeling like your soul had been rejuvenated.

Yes, he had his distractors, including Robert Christagou, who always seemed to love bashing him.   Christagou also bashed Sam Cooke.  So that puts Otis in very good company. :)

 For me, there is probably nobody alive any more who I would enjoy seeing live as much as Otis Clay.

Examples, please.  I would love to be convinced to revise my opinion here.  The more truly great singers/artists, the better.

Posted (edited)

...and here in Toronto, we lost the veteran trombonist Laurie Bower on Tuesday.  He was a strong mainstream jazz player, and in addition was a fine vocal arranger with his Laurie Bower Singers, a busy group a la the Anita Kerr singers...lots of pop success...

http://www.discogs.com/artist/1513266-Laurie-Bower-Singers

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/laurie-bower-emc/

Edited by Ted O'Reilly
addition of second link
Posted
9 hours ago, danasgoodstuff said:

Examples, please.  I would love to be convinced to revise my opinion here.  The more truly great singers/artists, the better.

By examples, do you mean recorded examples?    You could begin with his gospel album: "The Gospel Truth."   The album is packed full of performances that I would classify as mini masterpieces.  His initial explosion of creativity in the 1960s on Won-derful Records is another great accomplishment.  Perhaps the pinnacle is "That's How it Is," which I consider to be one of the greatest soul/R&B singles, but there are many other songs from that time that are not close behind.    He continued to churn out small masterpieces on Atlantic records in the late 60s and early 70s: check out Baby Jane, Is it Over, You Hurt Me For the Last Time.   "Soul Man Live in Japan" is one of the greatest soul/R&B live albums (IMO) that gives an idea of what he could do in concert.   If fact, he could do even a lot more than that in concert.  I can testify to that.    

That is a start.    

Posted
11 minutes ago, John L said:

By examples, do you mean recorded examples?    You could begin with his gospel album: "The Gospel Truth."   The album is packed full of performances that I would classify as mini masterpieces.  His initial explosion of creativity in the 1960s on Won-derful Records is another great accomplishment.  Perhaps the pinnacle is "That's How it Is," which I consider to be one of the greatest soul/R&B singles, but there are many other songs from that time that are not close behind.    He continued to churn out small masterpieces on Atlantic records in the late 60s and early 70s: check out Baby Jane, Is it Over, You Hurt Me For the Last Time.   "Soul Man Live in Japan" is one of the greatest soul/R&B live albums (IMO) that gives an idea of what he could do in concert.   If fact, he could do even a lot more than that in concert.  I can testify to that.    

That is a start.    

Fully agreed ....

Posted
On 1/22/2016 at 9:49 PM, John L said:

By examples, do you mean recorded examples?    You could begin with his gospel album: "The Gospel Truth."   The album is packed full of performances that I would classify as mini masterpieces.  His initial explosion of creativity in the 1960s on Won-derful Records is another great accomplishment.  Perhaps the pinnacle is "That's How it Is," which I consider to be one of the greatest soul/R&B singles, but there are many other songs from that time that are not close behind.    He continued to churn out small masterpieces on Atlantic records in the late 60s and early 70s: check out Baby Jane, Is it Over, You Hurt Me For the Last Time.   "Soul Man Live in Japan" is one of the greatest soul/R&B live albums (IMO) that gives an idea of what he could do in concert.   If fact, he could do even a lot more than that in concert.  I can testify to that.    

That is a start.    

Yes, thankyou.

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