Search - Shirley Scott :: Talkin Verve

The Impulse and Cadet collection

Dr.D.Treharne | Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom | 08/15/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"With a career as prolific as Shirley Scott's it's difficult to think of a definitive period (unless the Stanley Turrentine connection was it) and her time at Impulse and Cadet was as prolific and diverse as any. This collection skims the surface of what she was doing between 1963 and 1966 and varies from extended big band backed bashes like "A shot in the dark" and "For Dancers only" to the string laden Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse "Feeling Good".Fine as they are these tracks seem somewhat dated by comparison with what she was doing in small group sessions. Thus favourite tracks for me are Irving Berlins "Heat Wave", the delicate reading of the standard "I'm getting sentimental over you".Perhaps best of all, however, are a re-reading of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary" and her self written "Taj Mahal" with Clark Terry on percussion. Shirley Scott's style, as the sleeve notes point out, wasn't to ride all over the top of everything, but to weave gently and sometimes quite funkily around the material that she recorded. So there are no histrionics here, just a selection of material that charts another part of an excellent and varied career. This is not the whole the story, but is well worth getting into."