my Soul And Body

Like jazz, soul has undergone an evolution from an American-based music rooted in the blues into a form of expression that now finds itself at home anywhere in the world. This global reach of the music is visible in ACT’s artist roster where we find, among others, Nils Landgren, Knut Reiersrud, Solveig Slettahjell, Magnus Lindgren, Torsten Goods, and - above all - the Swedish singer/pianist Ida Sand. Her four previous albums have channelled jazz, pop and folk influences, but "My Soul Kitchen" is different. It is Ida Sand's clearest declaration yet of her love of "sweet soul music", and is also a demonstration of her deep affinity for it. There are songs by soul greats such as Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and The Meters, which are completely at one with both Ida Sand's own tunes and with her soulful interpretations of the music of artists like John Fogerty and Mike Shapiro. As Ida Sand herself says: "Soul music is such a broad genre. There’s funky soul, blue-eyed soul, neo-soul, RnB, New Orleans soul, Motown-soul and many others. This album is a blend of many of these.”

Guitarist Ronnie Earl's realization that you don't need a vocalist to sing the blues freed him up to roam across the vernacular music landscape, dipping into jazz, gospel, and soul, and has made him one of the most innovative and interesting musicians working in contemporary blues. It's hardly a radical step, since scores of jazz musicians have been mining the blues for 80 years without vocalists, and in Earl's case it was a natural shift – maybe even an obvious one given that he has often cited John Coltrane as a predominant influence. On Now My Soul, his second release from Stony Plain Records, Earl moves a bit back to neutral ground on the vocal issue…

One of the greatest living Chicago blues guitarists, Lurrie Bell's last two CDs have been about stretching him (successfully) to showcase the breadth as well as the magnitude of his art. However for this project he just wanted to get back to the solid foundation of Chicago-styled traditional guitar blues, done with his rare blend of reverence, involvement and individuality and framed largely by his working band.