Lady J Huston - Groove Me Baby (2023)

Joyce Huston (pronounced Houston) earned her moniker “Lady J” while attending Howard University as a Music Theory/Composition major (Dean's List). Her debut full length studio album, Groove Me Baby, is a reflection of all that Huston is (singer, songwriter, trumpeter, music director, arranger, and producer) and has accomplished in her career that began as a child dancer on shows with her mother Loyce Huston and led to an array of awards and high-profile appearances. For the big production on the twelve new tracks Huston enlisted over 30 musicians including four guitarists, three drummers, several bassists, keys, vocalists, a horn section (which includes Lady J) and the 18-piece Jazz Edge Orchestra from St Louis all backing her fiery vocals, trumpet, and flugelhorn playing.

The first of nine original songs, written or co-written by Huston, the bumping down home blues, ”Your Call,” opens the set with a blast from those vaunted horns. Huston follows in the footsteps of bawdy blues' pioneering women like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, who didn't wait for the sexual revolution to express their appetites on the swinging “Mean Stud Lover’s Blues.” Her mother, Loyce Pickens [Huston], recorded “I Want A Man Like That,” in 1963 with the Chick Finney combo, which Huston fleshes out with horns and big vocals on a loving tribute. “Tearing Me Apart” is a powerful R&B ballad almost 30 years in the making and the heartbreaking tale is reportedly a true story. Another tribute to a mentor “Born Under A Bad Sign,” is delivered with sizzle and flair Huston learned working as music director for Blues Legend Albert King. Like so many songwriters, Huston responded to the pandemic in her own way penning the tongue in cheek “Corona, You make Me Sick!,” as an upbeat take on the crisis.

Lady J’s complex arrangement/composition of “Hide-Away” shows off the strength and award-winning talent of the Jazz Edge Orchestra, who recorded the track with Huston in 2019 for a St. Louis Blues Society compilation. “Groove Me Baby,” the title track, is a piece of classic soul with sophisticated sonic layers and of course a big beat that evokes images of glittery dance floors and swirling mirror balls. A slinky second line beat rolls us into “Messin’ ‘Round On Da Bayou,” a slow-cooking New Orleans flavored funk inspired by her Vegas drummer Jimmy Prima, nephew of Louis Prima. The hot swing number “500 Pounds Good Gizzay,” is an update of a showstopper from her mother’s repertoire that will make many a man blush. Huston added two bonus tracks to the project; an instrumental version of “Mean Stud Lover’s Blues,” meant to inspire others to improv over the track plus a live recording of Etta James’ standard “At Last,” that showcases the breadth of Huston’s dramatic range as she pulls out all the stops to bring down the house. ~Rick J Bowen