Broken Record with Rick Rubin and Malcolm Gladwell The show's guest list is similarly varied, with recent episodes including memorable conversations with indie folk artist Andrew Bird, country singer-songwriter Lukas Nelson and jazz virtuoso and Robert Glasper all of whom took viewers on a musical journey through their catalogs and beyond. Hosted by the "Come Away With Me" crooner, the show features Jones jamming on a piano with a cadre of her musician friends and colleagues. Norah Jones is Playing AlongĪ relatively new addition to the podcast sphere, Norah Jones is Playing Along is exactly what it sounds like. And though there's already a disparate array of musician-led shows out there, it's seemingly just the beginning of a new podcast wave.īelow, get to know nine of the most interesting artist-hosted podcasts available. Whether it's hours-long interviews courtesy of early adopter Questlove, breezy conversations with a musical accompaniment by Norah Jones, or a vital history lesson from Sam Smith, podcasts are allowing artists to further connect with their fans. "Get Ready for Betty" (single, 1964)Īs podcasts have become increasingly popular among listeners, they've also become a preferred playground for music makers to express themselves - and in turn, show a new side of their artistry. According to the aforementioned statement, eight-time GRAMMY nominee Janelle Monae called her "one of the godmothers of redefining how Black women in music can be viewed" four-time GRAMMY winner Erykah Badu added, "We just grains of sand in her Bettyness." And Light in the Attic's Matt Sullivan cited her "unbending DIY ethic," which she forged by taking control of her songwriting, production and image.įor a brief tour through the career that funked up the world, here are five essential tracks by Betty Davis. Grandma responded by playing her Ma Rainey - charting her a course in the lineage of the Mother of the Blues.Ĭontemporary artists took notice. "I asked my grandmother if I just had to do as I was told - be sweet and pretty for the boys," she's quoted as saying in the 2018 documentary. Her music was featured in TV series from "Girlboss" to "High Fidelity" and "Orange is the New Black."ĭavis may have not been a capital-F feminist, but They Say I'm Different is full of examples of how she led the charge as an independent Black woman - and how young, female musicians of color can follow her lead. With Questlove 's 2021 documentary Summer of Soul, her tune "Uptown (To Harlem)" - recorded by the Chambers Brothers - reached a new audience. In 2018, Davis had her own episode of Mike Judge’s animated “Tales From The Tour Bus,” ending a season that featured Bootsy Collins and James Brown. In 2017, she got her own documentary, Betty: They Say I'm Different. In recent years, Davis had enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. 9, in her almost-lifelong hometown of Homestead, Pennsylvania. Despite not getting their proper due until the 21st century, 1973's Betty Davis, 1974's They Say I'm Different and 1975's Nasty Gal are must-haves for any funk collection - and so is Is It Love or Desire?, recorded in 1976 but unreleased until 2009, when Light in the Attic saved the day.Īll four albums are imbued with ferocity, sexuality and rhythms that could compel a corpse to get on the dancefloor - and today, the world is a little less kinetic. In his infamous 1989 biography Miles, the musician called his former wife "a free spirit - talented as a motherf*er - who was a rocker and a street woman."īut if you remove the Prince of Darkness from her timeline completely, Betty Davis would still be a major player in the funk sphere - with unforgettable style, attitude and autonomy.ĭavis' body of work may be mostly confined to the early- and mid-'70s before dropping out of music for decades - but what a catalog. Davis even shepherded him into the look and sound of '60s rock, spurring her husband to make albums like Bitches Brew. She inspired his tunes "Mademoiselle Mabry" and "Back Seat Betty," and appeared on the cover of his 1968 Filles de Kilimanjaro album. Sure, her husband of a year, Miles Davis, is a big part of her story, and she of his. You know the Bechdel test, which measures the number of women in fiction who talk about something other than a man? Let's apply a metric like that to singer/songwriter Betty Davis.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |