The blistering Plan B - an antidote for the worn out and frazzled - streams

''I MIGHT BE CRAZY BUT AT LEAST I'M FREE'' - from the lyrics. As good as any singer we have ever caught live Detroit icon Bettye LaVette is back with 'Plan B' from LaVette! a masterfully blistering blues rock groover now streaming. Produced by …

Published: 29 Mar 2023. Updated: 13 months.

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''I MIGHT BE CRAZY BUT AT LEAST I'M FREE'' - from the lyrics.

As good as any singer we have ever caught live Detroit icon Bettye LaVette is back with 'Plan B' from LaVette! a masterfully blistering blues rock groover now streaming. Produced by drummer Steve Jordan - the replacement for the late Charlie Watts in the Rolling Stones - and who has worked extensively with LaVette in the recent past also plays on the album which is to be issued on his own label Jay-Vee to be distributed in the UK by Proper in June. Also among the personnel are Welsh bass don Pino Palladino, guitarists Larry Campbell and Chris Bruce and keyboardist Leon Pendarvis.

''CHAMPAGNE AND A JOINT WOULD DO ME JUST FINE'' - from the lyrics.

Star guests include John Mayer, Jon Batiste, Anthony Hamilton, Steve Winwood and Ray Parker Jr. ''All of the songs were written by Randall Bramblett, who I just love,'' Bettye writing on Facebook an hour ago says continuing: ''Hope you like it as much as I do. Steve and all of the musicians were just brilliant. Oh, Anthony Hamilton is the only guest artist who is singing, the rest have added their brilliant musicianship.'' Bettye LaVette, above with Steve Jordan. Photo: Danny Clinch

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Seaming To, Dust Gatherers, O SingAtMe ***1/2

Reviewed by Stephen Graham The most relevant jazz track here is a highly individual version of the Walter Gross and Jack Lawrence standard ‘Tenderly’ sung by Sarah Vaughan in 1947 when the song was new. But singer Seaming To hovers beyond any …

Published: 29 Mar 2023. Updated: 13 months.

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  • Reviewed by Stephen Graham

The most relevant jazz track here is a highly individual version of the Walter Gross and Jack Lawrence standard ‘Tenderly’ sung by Sarah Vaughan in 1947 when the song was new. But singer Seaming To hovers beyond any definable genre and even this fine cover does not really represent this extraordinarily spectral album as much as some of the originals. They have an even eerier but compelling quality and engage both your clue solving instincts intellectually given how unearthly the sound is but also there is a winning personality that comes through. It's ages since I heard Seaming To live - back in 2011 at a frankly frustrating Bishopsgate Institute showing partly because it was only a support slot within a very different project.

This is far better than what I remember. Classical and jazz-influenced you gain a maverick operatic quality on a track like 'Look Away' or an almost fairy story gothic creepiness eased out on 'Brave'. Seaming To dubs in piano, synths and clarinets on the recording with collaborators, often strings players, sizing up the canopy of the sound a little. A collection of stories gathering dust inside - thank goodness the dust has magically sprung to life and how. 'Water Flows' with its wobbly spookiness as the protagonists go sailing is just one delight among many. A world, a galaxy, away from Sarah Vaughan and the 1940s but no less valid for all that. Seaming To, photo: Bandcamp