Song:Blues Is A Woman
Album:Stormy Monday
Most music fans should be familiar with Lou Rawls' R&B hits of the 70s. But he started out in gospel and he began his recording career recording jazz. Stormy Monday was his 1962 debut album. In 1958, Rawls was seriously injured in a car crash. He was pronounced dead before arriving at the hospital. He was in a coma for five days and he eventually recovered. After releasing a couple of singles for small labels, Capitol Records producer Nick Venet saw Rawls perform in a West Hollywood coffee shop and he signed him in 1962. At first Rawls recorded jazz. Stormy Monday was released in 1962 with a trio led by veteran jazz pianist Les McCann along with Leroy Vinnegar on bass and Ron Jefferson on drums. This was McCann's band through most of the 60s. They were known as Les McCann Ltd. Rawls sings jazz standards on the album except for Blues Is A Woman which Rawls wrote. It wasn't on the original album. But it was added as a bonus track when the album was released on CD in 1989. Rawls continued to record jazz until Capitol switched him to R&B and he scored his first number one R&B hit with Love Is A Hurtin' Thing in 1967. Rawls enjoyed performing jazz when he could and it just shows how versatile he was. Here's Lou Rawls with Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, Les McCann on piano, Chris Severin on bass and Billy Kilson on drums performing Blues Is A Woman at the 1989 Mount Fuji Jazz Festival in Japan.
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