The Essential Odetta

Performer: Odetta
Producer: Maynard Solomon
Distributor: Welk

Notes: Personnel: Odetta (vocals, guitar); Bill Lee (acoustic bass); Choir of the Church of the Master (background vocals). Recorded live at Carnegie Hall, New York. Originally released 2 separate LPs. Odetta possesses one of popular music's great voices. With classical training as part of her background, Odetta turned to folk music and found her success in the folk clubs of the late '50s. Combining the hodge podge of previous influences with gospel and blues roots, she created a vocal sound that has rarely been matched: a booming, husky voice, drenched in deep emotion and power, with an unparalleled timbre, pitch and sense of phrasing. THE ESSENTIAL ODETTA offers the larger-than-life presence an opportunity to showcase her many styles. Her takes on traditional folk classics, contemporary folk gems, gospel hymns, work songs, spirituals, lullabies, and the blues are all included. The instrumentation on this live recording is sparse--she is backed only by a string bass, a church choir, and her own distinctive rhythm guitar. Some of her most spirited work is included on this set--gut-wrenching universe shakers like "Santy Anno," "Another Man Done Gone" and the a capella "God's A-Gonna Cut You Down." These are the definitive interpretations of the twenty-one songs presented on THE ESSENTIAL ODETTA.

Taking inspiration from classic blues singers and folk troubadours of the 1930s and '40s and predating the folk boom of the '60s, Odetta remains one of the most important yet often overlooked artists of the American musical tradition. Her unique, politically charged fusion of blues, traditional Negro spirituals, and American folk songs was a profound influence on a generation of artists from Bob Dylan and Joan Baez to Tracy Chapman. Odetta continued to perform well after her heyday, remaining both fiercely political and artistically engaging.

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