WIWS Banner

The Second Disc

Expanded and Remastered Music News

  • Home
  • News
    • Classic Rock
    • Rock
    • Pop
    • Jazz
    • Popular Standards/Vocal
    • R&B/Soul
    • Country
    • Folk
    • Cast Recordings
    • Soundtracks
    • Everything Else
      • Classical/Opera
      • Disco/Dance
      • Funk
      • Gospel
      • Rap/Hip-Hop
  • Features
    • Release Round-Up
    • Giveaways!
    • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Classic Rock
    • Rock
    • Pop
    • Jazz
    • Popular Standards/Vocal
    • R&B/Soul
    • Country
    • Folk
    • Cast Recordings
    • Soundtracks
    • Everything Else
      • Classical/Opera
      • Disco/Dance
      • Funk
      • Gospel
      • Rap/Hip-Hop
  • Release Calendar
    • Coming Soon
    • Now Available
  • About
  • Second Disc Records
    • Full Catalog
  • Contact

/ News

Somewhere In The World: Playback Collects Sixties Pop, Jazz and Gospel From Judy Jacques

April 17, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

BUY NOW FROM AMAZON.COM

Playback Records' second recent jazz-oriented release comes from Melbourne's Judy Jacques.  Whereas Sue Barker's brand of jazz was a soulful one with strains of pop and rock, Jacques' style was firmly in the "trad jazz" camp derived from New Orleans and Dixieland.  The Sixties Sessions collects 24 tracks recorded between 1962 and 1966 from the solo artist (including some atypical pop sides) as well as The Yarra Yarra New Orleans Jazz Band, and Judy Jacques and Her Gospel Four.

When she was joined the Yarra Yarra New Orleans Jazz Band in 1959, teenaged Judy Jacques made quite a stir in Melbourne with her mature-beyond-its-years voice.  She had been performing professionally since the age of eleven, and with her sister Yvonne had formed The Two Jays, singing rock-and-roll and country songs for appreciative audiences.  But the 15-year old found herself thrust into the world of trad jazz when the venue she had been playing with a pop act booked the Jazz Band on the condition that the band kept the teenager employed in their own act.  The chance pairing was felicitous, as can be heard on Jacques' earthy, big-voiced, gospel  recordings with the band like "This Train," "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands," and the blues "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen."  Jazz and gospel fit Jacques as comfortably as pop had; she sang Bessie Smith and gospel traditionals with the same fire and conviction that earned her the moniker "the teenage Mahalia Jackson."  The earliest tracks on this collection come from two EPs recorded by Jacques and the Yarra Yarras in 1962 for the Crest label.

Late that year, Jacques formed her own Gospel Four with Doug Surman on piano, Bob Brown on string bass, Tom Arrowsmith on organ, and Graeme Morris on drums.  The group emphasized the African-American gospel sound over trad jazz, and Jacques drew inspiration from the Queen of Gospel, Mahalia Jackson, on such tracks as "His Eye is on the Sparrow," "All Over God's Heaven," and "Didn't It Rain, Children," culled from a pair of EPs released in 1963 and 1964.

Jacques took a detour from the blues-gospel classics and embraced her youth on Australia's popular teenage music shows.  Four single sides from 1965-1966 here showcase Jacques as a swinging-sixties pop vocalist.  The breakneck "You're Messin' Up My Mind," penned by Van McCoy and introduced by Herb Fame, became a northern soul favorite for its nonstop rhythm and vocal that Judy, in the liner notes, recalls as having been described as "too black" by radio programmers at the time.  She was equally persuasive on the country-rock twang of Lee Hazlewood's "A Real Live Fool" and Bobby Darin's "Since You're Gone."  (Like "A Real Live Fool," Darin's song had been cut by Hazlewood on his Friday's Child LP for Reprise.)  Future Olivia Newton-John songwriter-producer John Farrar co-arranged and played on these tracks.  Most appealing is Jacques' rendition of Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent's "Somewhere in the World."  The gutsy vocals of her gospel recordings have been replaced with a sweet soulful coo, perfect for Hatch's mature, Bacharach-esque melody.  Jacques navigates its contours with elegance and command.

On an altogether different note, The Sixties Sessions is rounded out by six live performances with the Yarra Yarras from 1963's Jazz as You Like It at City Hall, including a rollicking Dixieland take on "I'm So Glad Jesus Lifted Me," as well as "Kumbayah" and "Children Go Where I Send You."  In the period following the years represented on this CD, Jacques went on to form her own groups The Wild Dog Ensemble, The Judy Jacques Ensemble, and Lighthouse, and has continued to perform into the 21st century.

Playback's stellar 32-page booklet offers Andra Jackson's comprehensive chronicle of Jacques' life and career, as well as illuminating track-by-track notes from the artist herself.  Gil Matthews has remastered all tracks for optimum sound; three tracks ("Morning Train," "Be My Friend," "That's God") have been sourced from vinyl due to lack of master tapes, and four more tracks from the Gospel Four period have been happily presented in newly-discovered stereo rather than their original mono.  The Sixties Sessions opens a window on a precocious, powerhouse talent.

Judy Jacques, The Sixties Sessions (Playback Records PBCD-004, 2017) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

  1. My Journey to the Sky
  2. Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen
  3. This Train
  4. Walk Thru the Valley
  5. He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
  6. Didn't It Rain Children
  7. You Don't Have to Ride This Train
  8. Sweet Little Jesus
  9. His Eye is On the Sparrow
  10. Morning Train
  11. Be My Friend
  12. That's God
  13. All Over God's Heaven
  14. What Can I Do Lord
  15. You're Messin' Up My Mind
  16. A Real Live Fool
  17. Since You're Gone
  18. Somewhere in the World
  19. I'm So Glad Jesus Has Lifted Me (Live)
  20. Precious Lord, Take My Hand (Live)
  21. Children Go Where I Send You (Live)
  22. Old Man Mose (Live)
  23. Kumbayah (Live)
  24. Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho (Live)

Tracks 1-5 and 19-24 performed by the Yarra Yarra New Orleans Jazz Band
Tracks 6-14 performed by Judy Jacques and Her Gospel Four
All other tracks performed by Judy Jacques

Tracks 1-2 from The Yarra Yarra New Orleans Jazz Band with Judy Jacques, Crest EP CRT-7-EP 006, 1962
Tracks 3-5 from The Yarra Yarra New Orleans Jazz Band with Judy Jacques Volume 2, Crest EP CRT-7-EP 008, 1962
Tracks 6-9 from Introducing Judy Jacques and Her Gospel Four, Crest EP CRT-7-EP 023, 1963
Tracks 10-13 from Be My Friend, Segue EP SEP 702, 1964
Track 14 from Lombard custom single CWG 6730, 1965
Tracks 15 & 17 from Astor single A-7065, 1966
Tracks 16 & 18 from Astor single A-7068, 1965
Tracks 19-24 from Introducing "Jazz As You Like It at City Hall," Crest LP CRT-12-LP-005, 1963

Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Gospel, Jazz, Pop Tags: Judy Jacques

Avatar photo

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

Connect With Joe: FacebookTwitter

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Upcoming Releases

  • Crazy Horse All Roads Lead Home
    All Roads Lead Home
    Crazy Horse
    March 31, 2023
  • The Who With Orchestra Live at Wembley
    The Who with Orchestra Live at Wembley
    The Who
    March 31, 2023
  • The Birth of Bop
    The Birth of Bop: The Savoy 10-Inch LP Collection
    Various Artists
    March 31, 2023
See Full Calendar

Connect

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 4,573 other subscribers

Popular

  • Rush Signals 40th
    Chemistry: Rush Revisits "Signals" For 40th Anniversary posted on March 22, 2023 | under News
  • Rick Springfield Springfield
    Call the Fire Brigade: Iconoclassic Premieres Rick Springfield's Lost 1974 Album "Springfield" in Expanded Edition posted on March 20, 2023 | under News
  • Talking Heads Stop Making Sense Deluxe 2LP
    What a Day That Was: Talking Heads' 'Stop Making Sense' Expanded for Vinyl, Film Reissue posted on March 17, 2023 | under News

Comments

  • small faces here come the nice2
    Return To Itchycoo Park: Small Faces' "Here Come The Nice" Deluxe Box Set Arrives In January [UPDATED 12/3] 84 comments | by Joe Marchese | posted on December 3, 2013 | under News
  • the beatles u s albums box2
    British Invasion! The Beatles Unveil "The U.S. Albums" Box Set in January 69 comments | by Joe Marchese | posted on December 12, 2013 | under News
  • Rolling Stones in Mono
    Out of Their Heads: Stones Plan Mono Box Set 47 comments | by Mike Duquette | posted on August 10, 2016 | under News

Music Resources

  • Addicted to Vinyl
  • Crap from the Past
  • Discogs
  • Film Score Monthly
  • IMWAN Forum – From the Vaults
  • MusicTAP
  • Musoscribe
  • Pause & Play
  • Popblerd
  • Popdose
  • Record Racks
  • Slicing Up Eyeballs
  • Steve Hoffman Music Forums
  • Ultimate Classic Rock
  • Vintage Vinyl News
  • Viva La Mainstream
  • Wolfgang's Vault

Labels of Note

  • Ace Records
  • Analog Spark
  • Bear Family
  • BGO Records
  • Big Break Records
  • Blixa Sounds
  • Cherry Red Label Group
  • Craft Recordings
  • Demon Music Group
  • Friday Music
  • Funky Town Grooves
  • Iconoclassic Records
  • Intervention Records
  • Intrada
  • Kritzerland
  • La La Land Records
  • Legacy Recordings
  • Light in the Attic
  • Masterworks Broadway
  • Now Sounds
  • Omnivore Recordings
  • Real Gone Music
  • Resonance Records
  • Rhino Entertainment
  • Rock Candy Records
  • SoulMusic Records
  • Sunset Blvd. Records
  • Supermegabot
  • Varese Sarabande
  • Vinyl Me, Please
  • Wounded Bird
Copyright © 2023 The Second Disc. All rights reserved. · Site by Metaglyphics

The Second Disc is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk.

Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy