Di Anne Price - Wild Women - RED HOT By Bill Ellis

Jazz Times August 2000 Issue

And now – finally – for a break in the seemingly endless flow of male guitar-slinger product. Let’s hear it for the Ladies…

Memphis pianist-vocalist Di Anne Price channels the spirit of classic blues divas Ida Cox, Alberta Hunter, Stippie Wallace and Memphis Minnie on Wild Women (Go Jazz 6042 2: 50:23) A profoundly soulful singer, Price’s expressive voice is etched with pain on “The Soul of A Man” and brimming with sly humor on the calypso-flavored “Fishin’ in the Sea of Matrimony” and the naughty “Wrong Key Hole.” She is equally adept at tickling the ivories and is particularly sharp on the rolling “Fisherman’s Blues” the two-fisted shuffle “I Didn’t Like It the First Time” and the boogie woogie workout “Pig Meat.” A new talent well worth checking out.

RED HOT

By Bill Ellis

Wild Women - Di Anne Price

(Self-distributed)

FOUR STARS

If you say they don't make 'em like they used to, then you haven't heard blues pianist and singer Di Anne Price, who plays the most convincing stride piano around. Her cassette-only recording "Wild Women" balances jazz with ragtime and blues in a way that's so old-fashioned it's refreshingly new. Pop this tape in, close your eyes, and it’s like stumbling into a 1940s barrelhouse.

Backed by the supreme Uptown All Stars - sax player Jim Spake, drummer Tom Lonardo and bassist Scott Lane - Price sings-with a hearty cool, but it's her piano playing that captures your full attention. You'll find tons of New Orleans in her ivory interpretations as well as sophisticated blues from the great Memphis Slim. And Price has the range and confidence, to go from calypso to a Big Bill Broonzy country blues to a hokum double entendre number, Wrong Key Hole.

When Price sings, "Blues have been good to me," it's no cliche. For now, you'll have to be content buying copies of Price's tape at her gigs, which include Huey's Downtown most Sundays in January. Don't wait to find this on CD. "Wild Women" is a must-have in any format.

December 28, 1996 The Commercial Appeal

(NOTE: Tapes should be available at The Center For Southern Folklore and Davis-Kidd Booksellers, Laurelwood Shopping Center. If not please E-mail us!)