Jasmine Records JASMCD 2732 (2021)
A Review from Peter Brennecke, thank you Peter
As a follow-up to the successful CD “Ottilie Patterson – The First Lady of British Blues“ released in 2018 and in response to demand for more tunes, Jasmine Records released the CD “Ottilie Patterson – More of The First Lady of British Blues – Easy, Easy Baby …“ in autumn 2021. The CD JASMCD 2732 contains 24 live and studio recordings from the period 1955 to 1962. This period began with her debut as a singer with Chris Barber’s Jazz Band at a concert in the Royal Festival Hall, London on 9 January 1955. Since then, she went on to perform extensively with Chris Barber until she stopped singing in the mid-1960s due to health reasons. The tracks compiled are not new, but present again a selection of tunes that have already been released on a wide variety of singles, EPs, LPs or CDs. It gives a good and varied overview of her musical work at that time.
The CD starts with two live recordings from the above-mentioned concert, i.e. „St. Louis Blues“ and „Reckless Blues“. From the selection of other titles „Poor Man’s Blues“ and „Shipwreck Blues“ stand out among the studio recordings – two superbly presented classic blues titles. As to the live recordings, it is „Easy, Easy Baby“ and „Too Many Drivers“. Both are an example of the breadth of Ottilie Patterson’s vocal expressiveness: „Easy, Easy Baby“ is probably one of her most powerful and dynamic tunes, while her voice sounds much more restrained and lowered on „Too Many Drivers“.
With this CD, Ottilie Patterson’s reputation as The First Lady of British Blues is once again firmly established. Her love of the blues and her interpretation of the blues – in small ensembles, as the singer of Chris Barber’s Jazz Band or alongside American blues musicians – are manifested in the selected tunes. Thus, Ottilie Patterson has made a considerable contribution to publicising and popularising the blues in Great Britain. This is all the more true with regard to the musical developments which were been based on these influences and would hardly have been possible without them.