MARLENA SHAW-JUST A MATTER OF TIME.

dereksmusicblog ♦ September 7, 2013 ♦ 2 Comments

MARLENA SHAW-JUST A MATTER OF TIME.

For the first Lady of Blue Note, Marlena Shaw, 1975 saw her release the most successful album of her career, Who Is This Bitch Anyway? An innovative fusion of soul and jazz, Marlena explored feminist, sexual politics and social issues. This represented Marlena Shaw at the height of her creative powers. Who Is This Bitch Anyway had surpassed everything that Marlena had released previously. The decision to team up with producer Bernard Ighner had paid off. Bernard had brought in some of the best musicians. Everything fell into place. It seemed Marlena was about to enjoy the commercial success and critical her talent deserved. Sadly, that wasn’t case when Marlena released Just A Matter Of Time, which was recently released by SoulMusic Records.

For the followup to Who Is This Bitch Anyway, Just A Matter Of Time, there was a change of producer. This seems strange. After all, Marlena had just released the best album of her career. Commercially successful and critically acclaimed, Who Is This Bitch Anyway showed what Marlena was capable of. However, like any artist, this required the right team behind her.

Replacing Bernard Ighner, was Bert DeCoteaux, who’d established a successful track record. The veteran producer had just worked with Carol Douglas on The Carol Douglas Album and with Zulema’s eponymous albums. Bert had established a reputation for producing genre straddling albums. On these albums, soul and disco sat side-by-side. Albums like this, were the musical flavor of the month. Disco especially, was at the height of its success. Everyone was jumping on the disco bandwagon. Would Marlena Shaw, who was signed to jazz music’s premier label Blue Note, become a disco diva?

For Just A Matter Of Time ten songs were chosen. Marlena, a talented songwriter, only wrote one song for Just A Matter Of Time, No Hiding Place. The other tracks came from various songwriters. Charles Simmons and Joe Jefferson cowrote love Has Gone Away, which featured on The Spinners’ Mighty Love album. Gwen Grant and Patrick Grant penned This Time I’ll Be Sweeter and Think About Me. Bernard Ingher contributed Sing To Me, Bettye Crutcher Take My Body, Fredrick Knight Be For Real and Carson Whitsett wrote You and I. Along with It’s Better Than Walking Out and Brass Band, these ten tracks became Just A Matter Of Time, which were recorded at Mediasound Studios, New York.

Joining Marlena Shaw and producer Bert DeCoteaux at Mediasound Studios, New York for the recording of Just A Matter Of Time were some of the best session musicians of the time. This included a rhythm section of drummer Jimmy Young, bassist Bob Babbit and guitarists Lance Quinn, Jerry Friedman, Hugh McCrakin and Jeff Mironov. Producer Bert DeCoteaux, played keyboards while Ted Sommers and Dave Garey added percussion and Carlos Martin played congas. Nobody who’d played on the Who Is This Bitch Anyway, featured on Just A Matter Of Time, which was released in 1976.

The gamble to bring in a new producer and personnel didn’t pay off. Apart from reaching a lowly number twenty-five in the US Billboard Jazz charts, Just A Matter Of Time failed to chart. This was a long way from Who Is This Bitch Anyway. The lead single, It’s Better Than Walking Out stalled at number seventy-four in the US R&B Charts. A small crumb of comfort was, it reached number nine Dance Music/Club Play Charts and number seven in the Disco Charts.. Then when Love Has Gone Away was released as single, it failed to chart. From the high of Who Is This Bitch Anyway, Marlena came back to earth with a bang with Just A Matter Of Time, which I’ll tell you about. 

It’s Better Than Walking Out which opens Just A Matter Of Time, sounds like a Norman Harris production. This is the case from the opening bars. From just the drums, chiming guitars, bass and dancing, disco strings join and soaring harmonies are added. Then Marlena’s sassy, feisty vocal struts centre-stage. At that moment, Blue Note’s disco diva was born. Amidst a myriad of blazing horns, gospel-tinged harmonies and swirling strings, Marlena’s scats, whoops and hollers her way through this timeless dance track. 

Brass Band is very different from the previous track. Here, the tempo drops as the rhythm section, rocky guitars and congas join sweeping strings. They provide the backdrop to Marlena’s vocal. It’s tender, thoughtful and full of emotion. The arrangement is a fusion of influences. Caribbean, disco, soul, pop and jazz combine. Horns bray, strings dance and harmonies sweep in, as Marlena’s delivers a joyous, lovestruck vocal on this lightweight slice of poppy soul.

From it’s dramatic introduction, This Time I’ll Be Sweeter. Quivering, shivering strings, pounding drums and rasping horns signal the entrance of Marlena’s melancholy vocal. Flourishes of harpsichord, chiming guitars and lush strings provide the backdrop to her soul baring vocal. Harmonies soar dramatically, reflecting the hurt in Marlena’s vocal. Drums pound, adding to the drama of this heartbreaking opus.

Funky. That describes Think About Me. With its wah-wah guitars and stabs of brassy horns accompanying an uber funky rhythm section. This track could easily be from a Blaxploitation soundtrack. As for Marlena’s vocal, she sneers her way through the track, pitying her ex who married another to spite her.  Full of bravado, she let’s him know it’s his loss. She tells him I know that you “Think About Me, I was the one you needed, I should’ve been then one.” Feeding off her backing vocalists, bravado and bluster meet sass and sensuality, as Marlena, playing the roll of a woman scorned to a t, delivers one of her finest vocals on Just A Matter Of Time. 

Vibes, harpsichord and wah-wah guitars provide the backdrop to Marlena’s vocal on You and Me. It’s needy and laden with emotion. Quickly it grows in power. So to does the arrangement. Horns bray and blaze and drums pound. Strings sweep, reflecting the emotion in Marlena’s vocal. Heartfelt, it’s needy, insecure and tinged with sadness. She’s scared to lose the one she loves. They’re stronger together, rather than apart. Her dramatic, emotive paean is proof of this.

Love Has Gone Away featured on The Spinners’ album Mighty Love, which was produced by Thom Bell. Literally, the song bursts into life. Strings sweep and swirl, horns growl and the rhythm section drives the arrangement along. Marlena grabs the song, making it work. She delivers a vocal that’s equal parts sadness, hurt and regret. Combining power and passion, brings the lyrics to life. Accompanied by soaring, dramatic harmonies as Marlena vamps her way to through the track. Later, her band fuse funk, jazz  and disco, transforming the track as it heads towards its dramatic crescendo.

Bernard Ighner who produced Who Is This Bitch Anyway, wrote Sing To Me especially for Marlena. Straight away, you realize something special is unfolding. Percussion, keyboards and the rhythm section combine as gradually, the meandering arrangement shares its secrets. This is the perfect backdrop to Marlena’s tender, sensual vocal. Cooing harmonies and swathes of strings prove the perfect accompaniment to Marlena’s heartfelt, seductive vocal.

Although Bettye Crutcher recorded one album at Stax, As Long As You Love Me she’s better known as a songwriter. She penned Take My Body, which has a real Stax sound. That’s ironic, as bassist Bob Babbit was a member of Motown’s studio band the Funk Brothers. Here, he and the rest of the band provide a Stax style backdrop for Marlena. Blazing horns and a pounding rhythm section accompany Marlena’s sassy, strutting vocal. Punchy harmonies sweep in and horns growl and rasp. Marlena and her backing vocalists drive each other to greater heights, as a delicious fusion of rock, blues and soul unfolds.

Gospel-tinged harmonies set the scene for the Fredrick Knight penned Be For Real. It’s a track whose roots are in the church. A wailing organ, stabs of piano and guitar provide the backdrop for Marlena. She sings call and response with her backing vocalists, while strings sweep above her. Just like on other tracks, they prove a potent partnership. Heartfelt, sincere and inspired by gospel music, it’s a truly beautiful song, that’s one of the highlights of Just A Matter Of Time.

Closing Just A Matter Of Time, is No Hiding Place, which Marlena wrote. Again, it’s a track whose roots are in the church. With just a piano accompanying her, Marlena delivers a vocal that’s a potent mixture of power and passion. Although she makes the song swing, what’s a good track could’ve been made a much better with some gospel-tinged harmonies and handclaps. That would’ve even more authenticity to the song.

Having released the critically acclaimed Who Is This Bitch Anyway, which was the most successful album of Marlena Shaw’s career in 1975, she came down to earth with a bump with 1976s Just A Matter Of Time. Who Is This Bitch Anyway had reached number 159 in the US Billboard 200, number forty-seven in the US R&B Charts and number eight in the US Billboard Jazz charts. A year later, Just A Matter Of Time reached a lowly number twenty-five in the US Billboard Jazz charts. For Marlena this must have been a huge blow. She’d spent the last four years establishing her reputation as the first Lady of Blue Note.

Ever since she’d signed to Blue Note in 1972, Marlena been making steady progress. Her first two albums, 1972s, Marlena and 1973s From the Depths of My Soul, were produced by Dr. George Butler. Then for Who Is This Bitch Anyway, Bernard Ighner was hired to produce the album. This was a minor masterstroke. He brought together the right material and musicians. This allowed Marlena to shine on Who Is This Bitch Anyway. So it’s no surprise that it was her most successful album. That he was replaced for Just A Matter Of Time seems strange? At least Bernard’s replacement was a producer with a pedigree.

Bert DeCoteaux had established a reputation as a successful producer. He’d been riding the crest of the disco wave before he worked with Marlena. Maybe Blue Note felt that Bert could make Marlena Shaw’s music appeal to more people? There’s everything from disco, soul, gospel, funk, blues and jazz on Just A Matter Of Time. Indeed, the best way to describe Just A Matter Of Time is a musical adventure. You never know which direction Just A Matter Of Time is heading. Incredibly, Marlena copes with the constant changes in style. Her versatility meant she’s just as comfortable being a strutting disco diva on It’s Better Than Walking Out or vamping her way through the uber funky Think About Me. Then there’s the gospel-tinged Be For Real and Take My Body, where blues, rock and soul meet head on. These are just four examples of why Just A Matter Of Time is one of the most eclectic albums Marlena Shaw released. Maybe that was why Just A Matter Of Time wasn’t a commercial success?

Given Just A Matter Of Time was such an eclectic album, how would Blue Note market the album? It didn’t fit neatly into one musical genre. No. It straddled genres.  The same goes for radio stations. As Just A Matter Of Time wasn’t purely a jazz, soul, funk or disco album. It was a mixture of each of these genres. So stations playing soul or disco wouldn’t put Just A Matter Of Time on their playlist. The same goes for record buyers. No longer was Marlena just a jazz singer. Now she was trying to be appeal to everyone. This maybe alienated people, especially those who’d followed her career since her debut album. For Blue Note, this proved the final straw. 

Following the failure of Just A Matter Of Time, Blue Note dropped Marlena Shaw. In the space of a year, she’d released the most successful album of her career, been crowned Blue Note’s first Lady and was then unceremoniously dropped. Ironically, Just A Matter Of Time, Marlena Shaw’s Blue Note swan-song, where  she switches seamlessly between musical genres, is one of the most underrated albums of her long and distinguished career. Standout Tracks: It’s Better Than Walking Out, Think About Me, Take My Body and Be For Real. 

MARLENA SHAW-JUST A MATTER OF TIME.