Kim Nalley - Blues People (2015)

Tracklist

01. Summertime
02. Big Hooded Black Man
03. Trouble of the World (Acoustic Version)
04. Listen Here! / Cold Duck / Compared to What?
05. Movin' On Up
06. Never Make Your Move Too Soon
07. Sugar in My Bowl
08. Trombone Song (Big Long Sliding Thing)
09. Ferguson Blues
10. Trouble of the World (Organ Version)
11. The Chair Song (If I Can't Sell It)
12. Sunday Kind of Love
13. Amazing Grace
14. I Shall Be Released



In looks, Kim Nalley exudes the aura of Billie Holiday. Vocally, she has pipes to burn, packing a 3 1/2 octave range that can go from operatic to gritty blues on a dime, projection that can whisper a ballad yet is capable of filling a room with no microphone, and the ability to scat blistering solos without ever losing the crowd's interest or the intense swing. Her song selection at times harkens back to Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith, but it is delivered with the brass sauciness and R&B sensibilites of Ruth Brown. Kim Nalley's orginal songs are gutsy, bold and political with the earthiness of Mavis Staples. A consummate stage woman with a penchant for story-telling ala BB King, Nalley's concerts are always an interactive experience between the band and audience.

Her brand new CD, "Blues People," captures an extraordinary singer at the height of her amazing vocal and artistic powers. The mood and substance throughout — indeed the album in its entirety — reveal a singer who can not only sing awesomely, but also, a singer who can “really sang,” as those in the know like to say For Nalley, like Amiri Baraka, the blues range across the full continuum of human experience: sacred and secular; love and hate; joy and sadness; success and failure; highs and lows, and, the infinite crossings and mixes of these human fundamentals. Equally important, the blues are about struggle, endurance, survival, all too often “making a way where there is no way,” and transcendence. The sighs, shouts, moans, groans, and shrieks as well as the exciting call-and-response with her outstanding band not only give the album a gritty, downhome feel, these elements also reveal a searching exploration of both the distinctive and universal qualities of the worlds of Blues People.

Awarded "Most Influential African American in the Bay Area" in 2005 and "Best Jazz Group" in 2013, vocalist Kim Nalley is already being called "legendary" and "San Francisco institution." No trip to San Francisco is complete without seeing Kim Nalley perform. With an international reputation as one of world's best jazz & blues vocalists, she has graced concert halls from Moscow to Lincoln Center. A true Renaissance woman, Kim Nalley has also been a featured writer for JazzWest and SF Chronicle's City Brights, shortlisted for a Grammy nomination, a produced playwright, a former jazz club owner, an accomplished stage actress, a Ph.D. candidate in history at UC Berkeley, and an avid lindy hop & blues dancer. Her many philanthropic endeavors include founding the Kim Nalley Black Youth Jazz Scholarship.

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