Lady Blackbird, Celtic Connections Glasgow review: 'a striking talent'
Lady Blackbird, Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow ★★★★
Marley Monroe, born again in recent years as the magnificent Lady Blackbird, grew up in a Christian household, and there was a touch of testifying tradition in her Celtic Connections performance. At the very least she sang with absorbing authority, taking her time over an insistent bass pulse on her signature cover of Nina Simone’s Blackbird, which broke through and struck a chord during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations around the death of George Floyd. Channelling years of experience as a session vocalist who really can turn her tonsils to just about anything, Blackbird seized her moment to manifest as a striking soul diva talent.
Resplendent in white plumage, this Blackbird wore her flamboyance well, with pipes and presence to spare, yet all immaculately marshalled in service to the song, be it cover or original.
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Hide AdAs a vocalist she was unimpeachable, so it was little surprise that she could command a superb band of musicians who set up a brooding wah-wah introduction with jazzy licks from kilted pianist Kenneth Crouch, but could also turn the dial to strutting funk on Woman, stormy soulful rock on Collage, add a psychedelic edge to the stomping R'n'B of The City and strip the music to the bone on an acoustic interlude.


Best of all, during the self-styled “swamp acid soul” of Whatever His Name, they cut loose on an extended jamming breakdown which rivetted despite the departure of Lady Blackbird from the stage.
In due course, she returned, processing down the centre aisle, pressing the flesh like an everyday superstar before unleashing her final soul salvo, including the strong hook of Reborn, the anthemic Like A Woman, intimate Tim Hardin ballad It Will Never Happen Again and an encore comprising a sober rendition of I Am What I Am and soaring gospel soul classic Let Not (Your Heart Be Troubled).
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