Jazz Masters Series - Alberta Hunter (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)Alberta Hunter had an extraordinary life. Born in poverty in 1895 Memphis, she inched her way into the Chicago music scene during the 1910s and by 1920 was a major blues, jazz, and pop vocalist in Paris, New York, and London--where she opened as Queenie in the original London production of SHOWBOAT. During World War II Hunter toured extensively for the USO and thereafter returned to club performances in New York. In 1954 her mother passed away and Hunter decided on a complete career change: she withdrew from the stage, obtained the necessary degrees, and went to work as a nurse. Retired from the medical profession in 1977, she found herself bored and once again returned to the stage, opening at a Greenwich Village Club known as The Cookery. At age 83 she was largely forgotten and little was expected--but Hunter packed The Cookery. Originally scheduled for two weeks, she ran year after year after year, and when she wasn't playing her regular New York gig she was selling out every jazz venue she touched.
JAZZ MASTERS SERIES--ALBERTA HUNTER catches the lady in 1982, and at age eighty seven she showed no sign of slowing down or in taking the easy way out in her performances. Granted, her voice is greatly changed, and it would be difficult to listen her recordings of the 1920s and 1930s and recognize them in this concert performance--but this may actually be a good thing. The gloves are off, so to speak, and Hunter simply sings in a simple, almost throw-away style that blows the audience away. Working with piano and bass, Hunter strides onto the stage and opens with one her several signature songs: "My Castle's Rockin'." Other selections include "Downhearted Blues," "Time Waits For No One," "The Darktown Strutter's Ball," and "You Can't Tell The Difference After Dark." Her interpretation of the Bessie Smith classic "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" has trememdous authority--and in watching Hunter perform it I knew that here was in fact someone who knew Bessie Smith, who worked with her, and who was indeed considered her equal. It is easy to tell why.
The performance is fairly short--a little under an hour with a brief interview offered at midpoint--and every minute of it is a true delight. Hunter passed away in 1984, still singing right up to the end, and thanks to modern technology she continues to do so to this day. She's a knock out, that's for sure. One of the greats.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer

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