Betty Harris - The Lost Queen of New Orleans Soul album review

Soul’s backpages are full of singers who lit up stages and studios with their work but never received their due acclaim. Betty Harris is one of this cast, a queenpin from Florida who hung with Big Maybelle,

Solomon Burke and Bert Berns before Allen Toussaint came along. They were well matched: the Nola great’s production savvy and peerless compositional skills found the perfect range in Harris’s fiery, passionate voice and the swing and sway of backing band The Meters.

Singer and producer had a golden four-year run together, and the singles released on Sansu from 1965-1969 form the basis for this set of magical tunes, which run from southern soul to deep funk to r’n’b. This lost talent captures the essence of the Crescent City.

[ souljazzrecords.co.uk ]