Gaye Adegbalola

Gaye Adegbalola is best known to blues fans as the flamboyant, flashy, very funny front-woman for Saffire, The Uppity Blues Women. But on her debut release as a solo artist for Alligator Records, she's in fine voice, accompanied by some great players and, true-to-form, pushing into new thematic ground in her lyrics. That's why Adebalola is a breath of fresh air on the contemporary blues scene, and now that Saffire have slowed their pace of touring, with any luck, Adegbalola will be on tour to a town near you. "Bitter Sweet Blues" released in 1999, is a brilliant album, and this former science teacher from Fredericksburg, Va. takes the blues form in plenty of new directions, with sassy, funny tunes like "Big Ovaries, Baby," and "The Dog Was Here First." The album showcases eight of Adegbalola's original compositions, as well as songs by Keb' Mo, Smokey Robinson, Bessie Smith, Nina Simone and Gertrude "Ma" Rainey. Born in 1944 in Fredericksburg, Va., Adegbalola was raised by civic/community activist parents who had a deep love for music. Her father, Clarence Todd, was the first African-American school board member in Fredericksburg who played jazz on the side. Her mother would bring home records from her job at the Youth Canteen. Adegbalola took up flute in high school then went on to college in New England, where her fascination with blues, gospel and jazz took hold, listening to records by Etta James, Nina Simone, Ike and Tina Turner and fellow Virginian Ruth Brown. It was the late Simone who led Adegbalola to the recordings of Bessie Smith, and the discovery was a major turning point, as she finally understood the blues-based roots of jazz. While in college, she began learning her first few tunes on guitar, and after college, she moved to New York City where she became...