Review: Sweet Lu Olutosin ~ Meet Me At The Crossroads

Meet Me At The Crossroads immediately conjured up the myth of Robert Johnson, who stood at that famed intersection awaiting the sale of his soul to the devil. However, experience has taught me not to merely accept the obvious and with Lutalo Olutosin this is far from that legendary tale. Upon listening, the avid jazz devotee will quickly recognize the appropriateness of the title. What is gifted here is more of a convergence than a meeting. This is not a random gathering of songs but a carefully considered compendium. If there is any convention connected to this body of work, it is that this project has touched the soul of wisdom and versatility.

History meets style that goes well beyond this vocalist’s sense of fashion, though he continually pays homage to a time when musicians dressed to kill. The style of which I speak is his choice of compositions and the myriad of genres he presents as he travels through music’s evolution during the last century.

Affectionately known by his stage moniker Sweet Lu, he dives right in with the pacesetter Still Swingin’ that says it all for the tempo but leaves something to be desired in the story as he recognizes the past and reiterates that it ain’t over yet. He immediately switches gears and drops down to an outpouring of love that would melt any heart with a soulful rendition a la Eddie Levert on Love You More Than You Ever Know. I was immediately taken with a Roy Ayers like arrangement of How They Do That telling our stories of great determination and triumph over adversity.

Walking the wooden planks laid end to end across the backwater at the edge of the swamp, Lu’s vocal version of Intimacy of the Blues takes us to a juke joint envisioned in an atmosphere of an Ernie Barnes painting or Harpo’s Place as he belts out Sister Sadie’s Blues and how she turns a head and a heart. It is evident Sadie has been around a few joints in her life and one can imagine the crowd bumping and grinding through a hot and sticky night and singing and hand-clapping to a fervor pitch in church. Skin Game eradicates the lines of color and evens the playing field for humanity’s acceptance of each other. One unlucky traveler is set on the straight and narrow because Granny said it and nobody’s word is more trusting than hers.

Dancea Swing A Nova moves easily through a dream world of a dancer who woos a young man and teaches him about life with a bossa rhythm. Lu bravely embraces the classic Lou Rawl’s tune You’ll Never Find and intuitively arranges it to make it his own, adding a little more jazz to this rhythm and blues mix. Tunji Baby is a mid-tempo groove that hurts so bad with the pain of desire but everything about her is tantalizingly sexy and exquisitely distressful but he refuses to give it up. Where I come from we call that love and happy to be in it.

If one is responsible for his craft then he must delve into the classics and for this outing Sweet Lu respectfully delves into the catalogue of tenor great Joe Henderson and retrieves Recorda Me, pens lyrics, sings and scats his way across the charts of Don’t Forget To Remember. This is just one of the six songs he composed and or penned lyrics for on this project, adding the talents of Kevin Mahogany, Al Kooper, Antonio Ciacca, along with the venerable Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. And for those listeners who enjoy singing, he reprises two sing along tracks of Skin Game and How They Do That.

Let us not be bereft of our responsibility to acknowledge his powerhouse assemblage of musicians that reflects Atlanta’s finest with pianist Tyrone Jackson and Marty Kearns, trumpeter Lester Walker, saxophonist Mace Hibbard, bassist Kevin Smith, drummer Henry Conerway III, and legendary jazz pianist Donald Brown. Adding a little spice to the mix is vocalist Crystal Mone’t who we hear in all her splendor on How They Do That, Skin Game and You’ll Never Find. Not limiting his musicians to simply add their instrumental thoughts to the musical conversation, he collaborated with Tyrone, Antonio, Donald and also enlists the talents of Dwight Andrews to bring fresh arrangements to those borrowed songs and his original compositions.

To call Sweet Lu a griot is an understatement. He is a wise sage imparting age old lessons by deftly infusing our cultural history and family values utilizing a tapestry of blues, gospel and jazz that are pure entertainment from beginning to end. The messages are all too familiar but like that loving elder we all grew up with, he delivers them in different ways for a new generation. There is more here that meets the ear and the eye, so take a listen and your perspective on life may be altered.

carl anthony | notorious jazz | march 5, 2017

Give A Gift Of Jazz ~ Share NJ-TWITTER

    #preserving genius

More Posts: ,,,,,,

© Notorious Jazz 2024