Fontella Bass - Free '1971 [2006]

Tracks list

The 1965 classic Rescue Me is widely regarded as the greatest record Aretha
Franklin never made. The song in question was instead cut by singer Fontella
Bass, who like Franklin channeled the power and passion of her gospel roots to
create some of the finest music of souls golden age. Born in St. Louis,
Missouri, on July 3, 1940, Bass was the daughter of gospel vocalist Martha Bass,
a longtime member of the renowned Clara Ward Singers. Her grandmother Navada
Carter was also a professional gospel performer, and it was inevitable that
Fontella follow suit, making her church choir debut at age five. Nevertheless,
during the mid-50s she rebelled against tradition, sneaking out of the house to
sing secular R&B at local fairs and nightclubs. By 16, Bass was the house
pianist at the St. Louis nightspot the Showbar, and in 1961 she joined local
blues great Little Milton Campbell, later marrying the bands trumpeter,
fledgling jazz titan Lester Bowie. Bass first earned notice for her vocal on
Little Miltons 1962 hit So Mean to Me, soon followed by her Bobbin label solo
debut, I Dont Hurt Anymore. But when Campbell and his pianist Oliver Sain parted
ways, Bass exited along with Sain, who named her lead vocalist of his Oliver
Sain Soul Revue. Her second single, the Ike Turner-produced I Love the Man,
followed on Turners Prann label in 1963. Bass then cut Poor Little Fool, a duet
with Tina Turner issued on the Vesuvius imprint. And when she wasnt performing
with Sain and his group, she moonlighted as a solo act, playing gigs across East
St. Louis under the alias Sabrina.
After the 1964 release of the Oliver Sain Soul Revues debut effort, Heavy Sugar,
the pianist escorted Bass and singer Bobby McClure to Chicago, where he produced
their duet, Dont Mess Up a Good Thing, for Chess Records Checker imprint. The
single proved a Top Ten hit, and even after Bass left the group to mount a solo
career, Sain remained a close collaborator. She relocated to Chicago in 1965 and
late that same year scored the biggest hit of her career with her solo debut,
Rescue Me. A buoyant dance classic made memorable by Bass impassioned, gritty
vocal as well as the percolating bass of Chess session mainstay Louis
Satterfield and Gene Barges dynamic horn arrangement, the single topped the R&B
charts for a month and crossed over to the pop Top Five. One of the
biggest-selling records in Chess storied history, Rescue Me remains an
unqualified classic of the era and is a staple of oldies radio to this day,
although many listeners now mistake the record as the work of Aretha Franklin,
who ironically enough did not even enter the popular consciousness until two
years later. Worse, Bass never received proper credit or financial remuneration
for co-writing the song, and her subsequent battles with Chess execs earned her
a reputation as a malcontent. The Rescue Me sound-alike Recovery followed in
early 1966, reaching the R&B Top 20, but Bass run as a hitmaker proved
frustratingly short, and after scoring a minor hit late that same year with
Sweet Lovin Daddy, she never returned to the U.S. charts again.
With her career mired in neutral, Bass exited Checker in 1969 and with husband
Bowie -- now a renowned avant-garde player best known for his work with the Art
Ensemble of Chicago -- relocated to Paris. There she collaborated with the group
on an LP, the acclaimed The Art Ensemble of Chicago with Fontella Bass, but
otherwise focused on raising a family until returning to St. Louis in 1971,
renewing ties with Oliver Sain and signing to the Shreveport, Louisiana-based
Paula label. The superb single Who You Gonna Blame anticipated the 1972 release
of the Sain-produced Free, a remarkably soulful set that is by far the most
memorable LP of Bass career. Attention from radio and retail was negligible,
however, and after subsequent singles including Now That Ive Found a Good Thing
and Its Hard to Get Back In flopped, she exited Paula in 1974, not resurfacing
until three years later with the Epic single Soon as I Touched Him. Apart from
occasional guest appearances with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, she spent the
remainder of the 1970s and most of the 1980s as a homemaker, confining her
musical pursuits to her Baptist church choir, but in 1990 she teamed with her
mother and brother David Peaston for a gospel LP, Promises: A Family Portrait of
Faith. Bass continued her return to spiritual music with the 1995 Nonesuch
release No Ways Tired, touring Europe regularly in the years leading up to the
2001 appearance of her follow-up outing, Travellin, a collaboration with the
Voices of St. Louis gospel choir issued on the Canadian indie Justin Time. In
subsequent years Bass suffered a series of strokes, followed by a heart attack
in early December 2012 -- she died in a St. Louis hospice on December 26, 2012
at the age of 72.



Tracks:

1 To Be Free 03:56
2 Hold on This Time 02:26
3 I Want Everyone to Know 03:03
4 I Need to Be Loved 02:29
5 Talking About Freedom 03:21
6 I Need Love02:31
7 Wiping Tears 02:22
8 Now That Ive Found a Good Thing 02:44
9 Who You Gonna Blame 02:44
10 It Sure Is Good02:47
11 Im Leaving the Choice to You 03:04
12 Home Wrecker 03:31
13 Its Hard to Get Back In 02:52
14 My God, My Freedom, My Home 03:44

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