Shakura
S'Aida
- Brown Sugar is straight ahead sassy blues with a rich sound;
Shakura's vocals take you to the depths of blues despair with a smile on
your
face.
Brown Sugar: Mr. Right; Walk Out That Door; Gonna
Tell My Baby; (Did It) Break Your Heart; Angels On High; Chasing The Sun;
Missing The Good and the Bad; Sweet Spot; Brown Sugar; This Is Not a Love Song;
Anti Love Song; Outskirts of Memphis
Personnel: Shakura S'Aida: Vocals; Donna Grantis:
Guitar; Lance Anderson: Organ; Rick Steff: Keyboards; Steve Potts: Drums; Dave
Smith: Bass; Background Vocals on (Did it) Break Your Heart and Chasing the
Sun: Troy Adams, Shannon Maracle; Background Vocals on Angels on High and
Missing, and The Good and the Bad: Vicki
Atkins: Amyee Bragg, Stan Crouse
Shakura S'Aida - Brown Sugar was produced by Jim
Gaines and released on the Ruf Records label. Starting
young and honing her craft over time, Shakura has learned how to engage an
audience through her successful acting career and as the front man for numerous
bands over the past 20 years. Brown Sugar marks her second release and
vaults her into the echelons of blues singers, and accompanied by blues guitar
extraordinaire Donna Grantis, this duo is a force to be reckoned with. They are
tireless performers who enjoy the energy from a live audience, so check your
local jazz scene calendar to see when they will be in town.
The release opens with Mr. Right and Donna grinds out
some heavy blues licks setting the pace for Shakura's vocals "You can't be my
Mr. Right cause you doing me wrong;" Mr. Right is playful blues. The
track, Walk Out That Door, features Lance Anderson on organ in a mix of
blues, rhythm and blues, and pop showing us the versatility of Shakura and her
band. Gonna Tell My Baby is down and dirty blues and Shakura hunkers
down and shimmies her way through this track.
(Did It) Break Your Heart is a soul and pop track
where Shakura's velvety vocals coo their way through this touching track. Angels
on High is a beautifully performed song, a soft and soulful rendition that
will touch the listener's heart, and for each purchase of this track Shakura
will donate her proceeds to Free The Children, a Haitian Earthquake Relief
Fund.
The track Chasing the Sun is a clean rhythm and blues
song that features some great harmonies and a solid bass line. Missing the
Good and the Bad is jump blues taken to new heights with a touch of organ
and a driving bass before it transitions into funky blues driven by Donna's
guitar work. The track Sweet Spot is funky blues with a touch of rock
and roll framed by the hard driving combination of the drums and guitar.
The track Brown Sugar is an animated track that
glides over a bruising blues and rock arrangement. This is Not a Love Song
is a beautifully arranged and performed song that allows Shakura to open up her
vocal range. The closing tracks are Anti Love Song, a sassy song with a
lighthearted arrangement, and Outskirts of Memphis, a deep blues song
that closes the release like it started with the one-two punch of Donna's
guitar work and Shakura's bluesy vocals.
Websites where you can procure Shakura S'Aida - Brown
Sugar are Ruf
Records, Amazon,
HB Direct,
and Barnes
& Noble.
© May 2010. Luxury Experience. www.LuxuryExperience.com. All rights reserved.