No Foolin'!

Personnel: Katie Webster (vocals, piano, organ); Vasti Jackson (guitar); Gene Barge, Henri Ford (tenor saxophones); Burgess Gardner (trumpet); Edwin Williams (trombone); Raphael Semmes (bass); Morris Jennings (drums); Peaches Staten (rubboard); Kathirine Lee, Donell Rush (background vocals).Producers: Katie Webster, Vasti Jackson, Bruce Iglauer, Ice Cube Slim.Recorded at Streeterville Studios, Chicago, Illinois. Includes liner notes by Ed Bradley.Katie Webster is a powerful singer who can really belt out the blues, but perhaps her greatest skill is her two-handed piano solos. On this CD she is featured on a fairly wide range of material within the idiom including a zydeco-flavored blues, a sincere blues ballad ("It's Mighty Hard"), a couple of Motownish soul numbers, a rock and rollish "Those Lonely Lonely Nights" (on which she shares vocals with Lonnie Brooks) and, best of all, a variety of basic blues. Although she also contributes some atmospheric chordal organ, it is Katie Webster's piano playing that gives her music its most distinctive personality. A fun set. ~ Scott Yanow