As
iconic in 2014 for her timeless beauty and sex appeal as she is her artistic
versatility as an all around entertainer, Ms. Freda Payne remains among music's
and show business' brightest shining star survivors. When she is singing her
heartbeat music - jazz - love, awe and yearning only grow stronger. Her latest
album, Come Back To Me Love (her first for Artistry Music) marks not only a
return to the big band and strings-laden classics from her mid-`60s beginnings
with Impulse!, but also marks a return to her hometown of Detroit. That makes
this 14-song album featuring Grammy® Award-winning arranger Bill Cunliffe's
musical arrangements - from the vibes-kissed Kenny Rankin waltz "Haven't
We Met" to the lonely evening fireplace musings of "Lately" - a
beautiful homecoming.
"It's
a dream come true," Payne enthuses with a smile, "just like in 1968
when I was living in New York seeking my fame and fortune, and ran into Brian
Holland of Holland-Dozier-Holland. He told me they had just left Motown and
started their own company, Invictus. I flew back to Detroit, signed with them
and a year later had a Top 5 record, 'Band of Gold.' So signing to Artistry
Music with Gretchen Valade and Tom Robinson today is truly serendipitous - a
flashback to something really good happening for me at home in Detroit, my good
luck charm."
Reflecting
on how this opportunity arose, Payne continues, "(Bassist) Ralphe
Armstrong and I were on a local big band gig together when he told me about an
intimate jazz club in Grosse Pointe Farms, MI, with great food, saying, 'You
should work there.' I made the contact and that's when I met Gretchen and Tom.
Six months later I did a return engagement and they asked me to sing a song for
a documentary on Gretchen - When I Have To Smile. Then they asked if I'd like
to record an album for their label, Artistry Music. That made me feel very
special."
That
album became Come Back To Me Love, featuring six selections penned by Gretchen
and Tom (including the title track, "You Don't Know" and "I
Should Have Told Him") paired with eight selections of golden favorites
such as the torchy "I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry" and the
blues boiler "I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water." When asked who she would
like to be her right hand she called upon a more recent associate of hers, Los
Angeles-based Bill Cunliffe. She'd first hired him to accompany her in her
acclaimed "Ella: The First Lady of Song" engagement at Catalina Bar
& Grill in Hollywood. "I told them Bill was at the top of my list,"
Freda insists. "Bill is an excellent musician, easy to get along with and
respects my ideas."
Come
Back To Me Love is split between powerful big band jazz and classy contemporary
pop with strings. "Gretchen and Tom's material was offered as part of the
project," Freda explains. "They sent me about 20 songs asking Bill
and I to pick. I'd go to Bill's - sit and listen to the CDs - and we got them
down to the six best for us. It was the combination of the musicality and the
lyrics that got me...all about love in all its dimensions...all reflecting what
people go through in life, including me. Their songs are the most commercial of
the album."
For the
remaining eight selections, Payne picked longtime favorites that she'd always
wanted to do, but had never recorded or performed before. That exception was
"Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most," which she had been using in
live performances but had not yet recorded, done in a breathtaking piano and
vocals-only pairing. "I remember 'Midnight Sun' from Lionel Hampton - I
was once his band singer, I got to know him and his wife Gladys," Freda
adds. "And I remember 'Save Your Love For Me' from when I first went to
New York City and heard Nancy Wilson's version with Cannonball Adderley."
Asked if
much has changed since those first 1963 jazz recordings in her birthday week in
September and she marvels, "In `63 I was nervous as hell - uptight and
pushing too hard to be perfect. This time I felt like I was in Heaven. I was in
Capitol Records Studio A (another company she recorded for in the mid-`70s)
with 40 musicians, singing over impeccable arrangements. I was much more
relaxed and secure within myself. One of my favorite vocal performances is 'The
Island' (from the musical pens of Brazil's Ivan Lins and Vitor Martins with
English lyrics by husband and wife team Alan & Marilyn Bergman). The song
is so intimate, sexual and spiritual all at the same time. The sound of Bill's
orchestration just enveloped and transfixed me... I was taken to another place
and just went with it in my vocal."
With her
Artistry Music debut, Come Back To Me Love -- on which every instrumental solo
sounds like it was played by someone who had a crush on her at one time or
another -- Ms. Freda Charcelia Payne won't just be swinging on a star...she'll
be clutching that golden Victrola for this, her return to jazz and Detroit.
Though
best known for her 1970 R&B crossover smash hit "Band of Gold,"
Freda Payne has always first and foremost been a jazz singer dating back to The
Jimmy Wilkins Big Band at age 14. Her debut album After The Lights Go Down Low
And More (Impulse! - 1963) was arranged by Manny Albam while a more
pop-oriented follow-up entitled How Do You Say I Don't Love You Anymore (MGM -
1966) was helmed by saxophonist/arranger Benny Golson. Payne performed at the
Apollo Theater up in Harlem alongside Billy Eckstine backed by Quincy Jones and
His Orchestra (and then performed her hits as a headliner at the Apollo in the
early '70s), comedian Redd Foxx and the dance team Coles & Atkins. She also
graced the stage with Duke Ellington for two nights in Pittsburgh, after which
he composed "Blue Piano" just for her. Freda Payne's training and
experience render her a rare vocal artist that is stylistically beyond
category.
Upcoming
Freda Payne Performances:
* July
12 / Melbourne Recital Center / Melbourne, Australia
August 9
/ BB King Blues Club / New York, NY
August
30 / Detroit Jazz Festival (w/ USAF Airmen of Note Big Band) / Detroit, MI
*
September 6 / Miller Outdoor Theatre / Houston, TX
September
19 - 20 / Catalina's Jazz Club / Los Angeles, CA
*
indicates an "Ella: First Lady of Song in Concert" performance
Freda
Payne · Come Back To Me Love / Artistry
Music ·
Release Date: July 22, 2014
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