Friday, March 20, 2009

Trav'lin' Light Reviews

Queen Latifah is one of those rare pop celebrities that doesn't fuel her success by putting her personal life in the spotlight.  She's always let her music take the stage. 


Here's what's being said about her new disc Trav'lin' Light.


Amazon.com
With Trav'lin' Light, singer/actress/rapper/Cover Girl Queen Latifah (née Dana Owens) continues her chameleonic pan-stardom. The latest musical chapter in Latifah's success-studded career began with 2004's The Dana Owens Album, on which she emerged as a nuanced crooner of jazz and R&B standards. She continues this mode on her Verve records debut, adding ample individuality to such well-loved classics as Johnny Mercer's title track, Nina Simone's "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl," and Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars" (with legendary harmonica pioneer Toots Thielemans). Steve Wonder's own harmonica playing lends nostalgic ornament to an otherwise rather forced "Georgia Rose," and much of the album languishes in similarly downbeat fare, though Latifah's voice is never wholly unbecoming of her song choices. Toward the album's end comes a welcome swerve for the energetic. Inspiring takes on the Pointer Sisters' "How Long" and Curtis Mayfield's "Gone Away" lead into the soaring choruses of "I Know Where I've Been." Taken together, these three songs superbly straddle the spectrum from the former rapper to the still-newly minted singer with a long lease on success and a peerless sense of how to grow older gracefully. --Jason Kirk









The Boston Phoenix

Queen Latifah is never going to be Billie Holiday or even Macy Gray, but 2004’s surprise hit, The Dana Owens Album, proved she had a set of pipes. Trav’lin Light, her second set of standards and first recording for Verve, vindicates the rapper-turned-actress-turned-diva from any lingering charges of crossover pandering; she’s obviously as serious about this as any of her other pursuits. Abetted by a small army of producers and support players, Latifah croons her way through tunes by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Nina Simone, Peggy Lee, and the Pointer Sisters respectfully, enthusiastically, and competently, albeit not particularly distinctively. Stevie Wonder’s harmonica on “Georgia Rose” is so immediately identifiable that it threatens to steal the vocalist’s thunder, and Latifah’s foray into Motown territory, Smokey Robinson’s “What Love Has Joined Together,” would have been a buried Tammi Terrell B-side had Latifah been working for Berry Gordy. But her blues is formidable on Simone’s “I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl,” she swings like crazy on the Sarah Vaughan vehicle “I’m Gonna Live Till I Die,” and the über-production of the Impressions’ “Gone Away” justifies the Queen-sized vocal Latifah brings to it.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Put on your dancing shoes…


And get ready to SALSA! To really enjoy the pulsating and addictive rhythm of SALSA, you have to dance to it! You’ll get a chance to learn how to dance SALSA this Saturday, March 21 at the Alys Stephens Center before Spanish Harlem Orchestra hits the stage at 8 p.m. I’m excited to teach you the basic SALSA step and a simple combination that you and a partner could enjoy. There is nothing like dancing to a great SALSA band like SHO. After Saturday you too might become a “salsa addict” like me. The lessons start at 7 p.m. in the lobby. We shall see you on Saturday!

John "salseroblanko" Morey
SALSA SPECIALIST


John Morey is a Salsa Specialist from Huntsville, AL. To learn more about salsa lessons, please contact him at salseroblanko@yahoo.com or go to his website at www.salseroblanko.net. John taught the first Beginner Salsa boot camp in Huntsville and in Birmingham. John will have a Beginner Salsa boot camp on the same day as SHO at Magic City Ballroom. The boot camp starts at noon. For more info about registration for the Beginner Salsa boot camp, contact Magic City Ballroom at (205) 238-9008, website is www.magiccityballroom.com/index2.html.

Monday, March 9, 2009

All Hail the Queen

I love to see an artist evolve and show me what they can do. You really don’t see it often, but the ones that can do everything, usually try it. Some succeed and some do not. Have you seen anything from Vanilla Ice since he did the movie “Cool as Ice?” I didn’t think so. Britney Spears, although she’s had some success on the small screen, hasn’t done anything on the big screen since “Crossroads” and for good reason, because that movie was really a stinker . What about stars crossing over from the screen into the music world? Sometimes I want to say…. “Oh, no you didn’t.”



There are those stars that can do everything and succeed. Queen Latifah anyone? If you haven’t heard her early rap work, you should, because it is ground breaking. If you haven’t seen “Chicago” or “The Secret Life of Bees,” you should, because they are both astounding performances. If you haven’t heard her jazz albums, they will amaze you. Queen can do it all. Not many artists can do it all, but she can. I’m happy that I get to hear that jazz soon and very soon. When they announced the ASC gala artist for 2009…. I said to myself… “What better? A Queen!”

Check out Queen Latifah’s version of “Poetry Man” here.

Don't miss her live performance at the Alys Stephens Center on April 4, 2009! Great seats are still remaining! Tickets are $125 each and include a posh pre-show reception with complimentary wine, beer, and hors d’oeuvres and reserved seats for Queen Latifah’s performance. This is the Alys Stephens Center’s only fundraiser of the year and the funds raised benefit the Center’s educational and programming offerings. For tickets, call (205) 975-2787.