Artist:Marlena Shaw
Song:Love Dancin'
Album:Take A Bite: Expanded Edition
Marlena Shaw is best known as a jazz singer. Her late 60s recordings on Cadet like California Soul became popular in the 90s through DJs resurrecting them. When they were originally released, her recordings did not sell. So it's not surprising that in the 70s, she got into disco. That happened with a lot of jazz musicians. After two albums on Cadet, Marlena moved to Blue Note in 1972. After recording two jazz albums and a live album, she decided to try disco for the 1975 album Who Is This Bitch, Anyway?. After the 1976 single It's Better Than Walkin' Out from the 1976 album Just A Matter of Time was a dance hit, she moved to Columbia mostly for better distribution. The 1979 single Love Dancin' was one of three singles that charted on the dance and R&B charts. It's from Marlene's 1979 album Take A Bite, her third and final album for Columbia. The album was produced and arranged by Harold Wheeler who had previously worked with Gloria Gaynor and Meco Monardo and his disco version of the Star Wars theme. So the guys who worked on Meco's album are the same guys who worked on this album. Love Dancin' was written by Gary Knight and Gene Allan. These Brill Building songwriters worked frequently as a team. Allan had a lot of success in the 60s with Bobby Vinton. Knight wrote songs for Connie Francis. The British label Soulmusic released Take A Bite on CD in 2011 with a couple of bonus tracks including a remix of Love Dancin'. Sony has released a Marlena Shaw comp as a digital download. After leaving Columbia, she returned to jazz in the 80s for Verve and Concord and the small Eighty-eight's label. Her most recent recording was recorded in Japan in 2007 with Freddy Cole. Here's a video of Love Dancin' by Marlena Shaw.
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