Amanda Ambrose – Gimme Shelter

By , February 10, 2013 1:20 pm

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Miss Amanda Ambrose

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Listen/Download Amanda Ambrose – Gimme Shelter

Greetings all

Welcome to another week in the land of vinyl.

I drop those three genres because they all have a hand in the tune I bring you today.

Anyone fairly deep (or maybe not so deep) into the soul/funk record collecting ‘thing’ will have crossed paths with singers who (like Amanda Ambrose) made their bread and butter in the world of jazz, but crossed over (for whatever reason) into a grittier sound.

Here at Funky16Corners I’ve featured music by artists like Nina Simone, Irene Reid, Gloria Lynne, and others who felt the need – whether artistically, commercially or both – at some point in their career to step outside of the world of jazz (or bring it with them into another context).

More often than not – as long as the material and delivery were on point – the results ended up being quite groovy.

This is not suggest that singing jazz and soul are interchangeable disciplines (they are not) but rather that one would expect a jazz singer to at the very least bring a level of technical facility to the table.

Whether or not they were able to deliver the goods once they got there was another question entirely.

Someone like Nina Simone – though often thought of as a jazz singer – spent her entire career moving fluidly between genres.

Others – like Amanda Ambrose – had common gospel roots with most soul singers of the classic era, and that tied things together on another level.

Born in St Louis in 1925, Ambrose spent the early part of her career recording jazz for small labels (though she did an album for Dunwich in the mid-60s).

Her storming take on the Rolling Stones ‘Gimme Shelter’ was recorded for Bee Gee records in 1973.

I know little about the label, other than that it seemed to specialize in funk and soul.

Where Merry Clayton’s better known cover of the song remains in the stylistic orbit of the original, Ambrose’s take on the tune has the feel of a Leon Russell session, with a pounding rhythm section (especially the piano) and powerful horns.

Ambrose’s vocals are equally powerful and it’s a shame that this record didn’t catch on with a wider audience, though by 1973 this sound was on its way out.

She passed away in 2007 at the age of 82.

I hope you dig the track and I’ll see you all on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!

The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.

They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).

Click here to go to the ordering page.
Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

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PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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