Marva Wright - My Christmas Song

 Not exactly 'feelin' it this year, poverty sucks, but here is a fine slice of NOLA Christmas.

For my friend Feillimed:

I have known for a long time that there was a Marva Christmas disc that I'd never heard. You would think that since I had everything else, I would have diligently tracked this down...but no, I kind of wrote it off as likely a half-ass obligatory type recording. This year I said "What the hell, get it and if it's bad...so what." Unnnh...Ooops! Do you notice where this is leading....Oh You Silly, Foolish Old Man! Are You Out Ya Mind?!

The first track opens with swelling organ, the unmistakable keyboards of Davell Crawford, the rest of the band kicks in and oh here comes the choir! It's Go Tell It On The Mountain "Damn THIS is rockin'" ...and Whoa, here comes Marva! (an enthusiastic 'chair boogie' follows) "Gee, I may have underestimated this one a bit." ya think? ...a nice sax intro, and My Christmas Song, part one  of a  classic Southern Soul tale of an abandoned woman and her inner strength to hold her family and herself together thru the Holidays...Now it really starts to get deep as Ms Marva gets your tears going with a soul stirring rendition of Silent Night....and now "OH Hell Yeah, time to get up and dance!" If Marva's Holiday Shuffle don't get ya moving...well you know.

Okay so now we are clear...I WAY underestimated this album. I mean I'm 4 tracks in and I've already laughed, cried and danced! ...now some more strong DC piano and here comes the triumphant part two of our tale of the abandoned woman, I'll Be Fine, If this one doesn't move you then you are a heartless bastard!

A Holiday Medley is just that, a nice little piece that may or may not be live. Freddie King's classic Christmas Tears follows...beautiful...I'd guess that this is something of a tribute to the late Johnny Adams, who loved to sing that song...unh oh we goin' to church AND we gettin' funky! What follows are a trio of beautiful Christmas songs that you've never heard that are clearly born of the church. Each of them is a wonderful gem. Some spastic 'old man dancing' is left to your imagination.

 What Christmas Means To Me is so deep into Marva's wheelhouse that I'd have been shocked if she hadn't absolutely crushed it, ...no shock, song crushed! Christmas Comes But Once A Year could be a third part to the story of our heroine, she somehow makes it all magic for her kids...there is a weary joy to this one.

Marva even manages to make the finale of Auld Lang Syne memorable, no mean feat! Today my favorite Marva Wright album is this one right here!

Marva Wright - After The Levees Broke

A repost by request:

I must admit that I am still incapable of listening to the first two tracks here without shedding tears. The whole album is a bit gut wrenching for me. Not only does it evoke powerful images of Katrina (in which both she and I lost everything), but it is also the last album before her untimely death. That said, I'd have to call this album her masterwork. It certainly helps that seemingly every musician who was in town at the time of these sessions showed up with axe in hand. Together they made a bit of magic amidst the wreckage of our collective nightmare.

Glenn Gaines, manager of Bo Dollis and the Wild Magnolias, had a large hand in organizing this project. Glenn has done a fine job making sure that the world will always remember Big Chief Bo and I believe he has done the same here for Marva. Different participants produce different tracks, but I believe that Glenn and Peter Noble had the big vision of the project here and they have succeeded admirably. 

Those powerful first two Katrina tracks come from Benny Turner and from there the album is full of lovely surprises. Tell me that when Marva begins That's Just The Way It Is you don't get a little tingle as she transforms the song into a powerful statement. Funny Not Sunny Kind of Love is just a jaw dropping wonder, the gospel tracks with the Crawfords are brilliant, the Toussaint touch is all over the second line treatment of You Are My Sunshine, and then there is Willie Nelson's Crazy....

Musically as consistently top shelf as it gets, powerful and well delivered emotional content, great twists and turns in feels and styles -- superior performances by the main artist -- Can someone PLEASE tell me how THIS album didn't win multiple Grammys?

update: I'm listening to the album now and it still makes me cry, but it's good for the soul. I couldn't help polishing up the review a bit too.

Marva Wright - Bluesianna Mamma & I Still Haven't Found...

With  these two AIM releases we have covered pretty much all the Marva there is outside of a Christmas album that I've never seen. AIM released this pair of mid 90's sessions in 2001 after their original issues had long since vanished. The consistency is not quite up to the later AIM albums, but there are still plenty of highlights and even the less interesting songs kick the crap out of most singers.

Marva Wright - Marva

It is a ridiculously cold morning here in New Orleans and the forecast is for the temperature to continue to drop all day - businesses, schools, offices, everyone is closed and I acknowledge that I've been deterred from attending morning coffee, I have a mental picture of Cliff sitting there by himself that is causing me some guilt, but I am a weather wimp when it comes to cold and wet. I think I'll just stay here where it is warm and dry and listen to Marva.

Posting 'After The Levee's Broke' got me looking through the AIM cover where I noticed that there were 3 more Marva albums on AIM that do not overlap all the Marva that I've already posted! I'm ecstatic! Somehow I was unaware that her relationship with Glenn Gaines and AIM went all the way back to 1995. This was the first to arrive, but chronologically it is the 3rd of the AIM discs, it is from 2000 and it is a killer! Like the Levee's album there are great guests and good production too. I can't wait to hear the next 2!

Marva Wright - Born With The Blues

A little treat for our friend FOB, don't be too put off by the weird little rap opening, it is over fast and doesn't return. As you can see the album has been released in at least two forms by two different labels; this is the third album of hers that I've discovered multiple versions of, if you are buying one make sure you check the tracks, I've twice now bought something it turned out I already had.

Through the course of this album Marva's guests include James Rivers, Walter 'Wolfman' Washington, Sonny Landreth, Herman Ernest, Davell Crawford, and Lenny McDaniel. Not exactly an insignificant group of sidemen, eh? As usual Marva throws back her head and sings the crap out of this stuff, she didn't know any other way. Best of all this album doesn't repeat any songs from the others.

Marva Wright - Blues Queen of New Orleans

NUMBA 2 on the July Repost Parade --

I had to giggle while putting together this post as I recalled the comments about the 'vulnerable cry" in the voice of our last two ladies featured here...I doubt anyone ever made such an observation about Miz Marva! Marva seemed to appear out of nowhere in the late 80's, unknown to those outside of the Gospel community and even there she mostly sang in her own church.

Apparently it was family financial pressures that caused her to take some gigs as a backup singer but in seemingly no time at all she was a fully formed, room-rockin, wallpaper peeling Blues Queen whom I recall Irma Thomas once slyly introducing as 'a friend of mine who can sing a little bit'.

We lost big sweet Marva far too soon; a photo on my office wall of Bo Dollis' 2009 Jazz Fest performance has a smiling and vibrant looking Marva standing behind a very frail looking Bo. Sadly only months later it is Marva who left us. That picture on my wall and the one below with Walter are how I will always remember her.

"Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Wright's first public singing efforts were heard in church, with her mother the late Mattie Gilbert, a piano player and gospel singer as her accompanist. Top honors in a school-sponsored singing competition followed. Mahalia Jackson, the esteemed gospel singer, was an early friend of the family.

Wright did not turn professional until 1987, when she was almost forty years old. Even then, she only began singing as a way to support her family with a second job. Early in 1989 during a live set at Tipitina's in New Orleans, Wright made her first recording, Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean. She made her debut on national television in 1991, when her hometown was the setting for a special that revolved around the Super Bowl where she met CBS news anchorman Ed Bradley, in which at that time he thought she only sang Gospel, it wasn't until the same year that he rediscovered her at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and from that day on had been introducing her every year. Heartbreakin' Woman, Wright's first full-length release, appeared later that year. Wright's 1993 album Born With The Blues was originally released in France, then three years later the major-label imprint Virgin picked it up for the rest of the world. Her 2007 effort, After The Levees Broke, addressed the devastation of Hurricane Katrina - which destroyed her house and all her belongings - by re-purposing songs like Willie Nelson's "Crazy," Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," and Bruce Hornsby's "The Way It Is.". In August 2008, she performed with the Louisiana Wetlands All Stars at both the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado as well as the Republican National Convention in Minnesota.

Marva is well known all over Europe where she had many of fans and frequent visits overseas, doing festivals in places like France, Italy, Germany, Australia to name a few.

She also sang backup for such artists as Allen Toussaint, Glen Campbell, and Joe Cocker, and the long list of others Wright performed with includes Cyril Neville, Harry Connick, Jr., Bobby McFerrin, Aaron Neville, Fats Domino, Lou Rawls, and Marcia Ball.

In May and June 2009, Wright suffered a pair of strokes from which she never fully recovered, and on March 23, 2010, she died a few days after her 62nd birthday at her eldest daughter's home in New Orleans."

I miss you Mizz Marva, I'll light a candle for you this morning, but I'm sure that Heavenly Choir is loving your joyful shout.

Marva Wright - Marvalous

 Numba' One on the July re-post request line! 

 Another visit down to my home with our beloved and missed Mz Marva. there are some repeated tunes here but they are not the same versions. Not every Mardi Gras Records release is of the highest audio quality, but this one sounds just fine!

01. Members Only (4:20)
02. I Had a Talk With My Man (4:17)
03. Shake a Hand (3:52)
04. Driving Wheel (3:54)
05. Further on Up the Road (3:28)
06. Mr. Big Stuff (3:58)
07. Built for Comfort (3:42)
08. Wang Dang Doodle (5:13)
09. You Can Have My Husband (3:06)
10. Down Home Blues (4:03)
11. Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean (3:02)
12. You Send Me (3:54)
13. It's Raining (4:02)

Personnel:
------
Marva Wright (Vocals)
Thomas Bingham (Guitar)
Lester Snell (Piano, Organ)
The Staff (Bass, Drums)
Lannie McMillan (Tenor Saxophone)
Mashaa, William & Betram Brown (Background Vocals) 

If you can listen to the opening cut "Members Only Tonight" and be unmoved, then frankly son, I am worried about you. This one is a more emotionally charged album than my previous Marva post. Seeing her deliver these songs in a small venue was a powerful experience, not soon forgotten, but these versions have the backup singers and full band to showcase her properly. 

One thing for sure, revisiting these two albums has made it clear to me that I need ALL the rest.

Marva Wright - Heartbreakin' Woman

 This one is to celebrate the return to the blogworld, and hopefully to reasonable good health, of our dear Feilimid O'Broin. I know he loves him some Marva.

This was, I believe, Ms Marva's first album and it is my personal favorite. It is musically more sophisticated, more textured than any of the others and the song choices are perfect. Marva's voice seems to explode out of these tracks with an almost terrifying power. The arrangements and instrumentation are imaginative and effective, the musicians all much more than just competent. A look at the songwriters is an honor role of Southern Soul: Elmore James, Willie Dixon, William Bell, Booker T, Toussiant McCall, Al Jackson Jr. ..., not to mention a pair of traditional pieces and four self-penned originals!