Solomon Burke - Blue and Soulful

Solomon Burke - Blue & Soulful

Was Solomon Burke the greatest soul singer of all time? Well producer Jerry Wexler, writer Peter Guralnick and Philly DJ icon Jimmy Bishop will all say that Solomon was The Dude any day of the week even with a borrowed band!

If you listen to the the stunning variety of vocal tones and colors he exerts in the 60 songs here it is pretty easy to understand their enthusiasm; quite simply THIS GUY COULD SING ANYTHING! Across these songs he seems capable of taking on ANY song, Any style, Any sound or even any diction and he sounds completely effortless.

Almost any singer who has been featured here on the blog was within his seemingly limitless range. In the course of this exploration we have seen one great singer after another prove incapable of conquering inferior material. Wynonie Harris, Little Willle John, and countless others prove unable to maintain excitement without good songs that fit them. With Burke it really does not seem to matter, he likely could have sung the Yellow Pages and made it riveting, he was just THAT good. From deepest baritone to highest falsetto there was never even a hint of loss of control that I have ever heard, NOBODY else could do that.

In his mid teens during his first music career he toured in a show with Little Willie John and Joe Tex and stole the show every night. During his second music career he toured with a show that included Otis Redding, Joe Tex and Garnet Mimms.....Burke was the unquestioned headliner. Today he is somehow remembered more for his girth, throne and crown than his blinding talent.

When Ray Charles left Atlantic in 1959 it sent shock waves throughout what was then the greatest R&B/soul label going. Ahmet Ertegun felt deeply betrayed and retreated from the labels' R&B permanently, focusing first on pop like Bobby Darin and Sonny and Cher and later rock bands like Cream, Led Zeppelin and Buffalo Springfield. Jerry Wexler was still committed to black music but without his star he was lost. Between 1959 and 1961 Atlantic had lost it's per-eminent position in the music and sales declined sharply, then one fine day in late 1960 a giant fresh faced young man appeared in Wexler's office and over the next four years not only saved the label but carried them to previously unheard of heights. Go to Wikipedia today and they act like he was never as successful as Charles, Brown, Pickett or Redding but that just isn't true when you look at the actual history. Were it not for Burke, the Atlantic of 1965 that boasted Joe Tex, Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding would likely have never happened.

Burke and his family carefully crafted an entire mythology about his birth, his grandmother claiming a vision of him 10 years before his birth and knowing the path his life was destined for. Burke claimed to be born in 1940 (at least 1 source claims 1936) and was a child preacher by age 7. He included gospel singing in his ministry and soon began to attract wider attention. Without question the preacher persona was the source of the comfort and easy confidence he felt on stage. Very few people in history have dominated a room the way this man could, his 'presence' and charm were actually far greater than his considerable size. 

At 15 Burke was signed to Apollo records and from 1955 to 57 and he enjoys a fair amount of success but when he began to ask uncomfortable questions as to whether his label and manager are dealing straight with him, his career ends abruptly. Burke was devastated to the point of withdrawing from the business and the world as a whole, according to him spending some time begging on the street until an epiphany moment which includes him being hit by a car driven by a relative who owned a mortuary. (Like I said there is more than a bit of mythology to his story) The woman sent him to mortuary college and in short order Burke became a successful mortician and returned to his ministry. We may well have never heard any more of him were it not for the determination of a man named Babe Shivian who so wanted to manage Burke that he essentially blackmailed him by parking his inappropriate bright red Lincoln in front of Solomon's funeral home each day until the singer relented. (Shivian then gave him the car)

After a couple of singles Solomon marches into Jerry Wexler's office and answers all of Wexler's prayers; the question of what to do after losing Ray is answered in this total package that shows up on his doorstep fully formed and ready for damn near anything. Burke embarks on his second music career with of all things a country song "Just Out Of Reach", replete with a white chorus and fiddle, he delivers the song completely straight, sounding for all the world like a better Elvis. After a few machinations the song is a hit with most of it's audience having little clue that the singer was black.

What follows over the next 4 years is well represented in the dizzying array of these 60 songs, although for my part they could have let out everything, no matter how many discs it takes. I defy any of you to listen to the lot of them straight thru and not come away stunned by the versatility of his voice; Elvis, Hank Snow, Bobby Bland, Ray Charles, James Brown? Yeah, no problem, got that covered. Al Green, Sam Cooke, Wynonie Harris? Yeah got all of them too. He even does the unthinkable in covering Lee Dorsey's "Get Out My Life Woman" and he absolutely crushes it! (Track 59)

The greatest soul singer ever? Well he sure as hell is in the conversation!