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Laverne Butler

"I was going on gigs with my father at 12. We were doing different things, R&B, jazz, whatever he would want me to learn, that's what I would sing."

LaVerne grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, and developed her love for jazz while performing on stage with her father, jazz saxophonist Scott Butler. After becoming a vocalist with the jazz band at the University of New Orleans, LaVerne went to Bourbon Street. There, she became a regular in her own right on the New Orleans jazz scene. But it was Jon Hendricks of the jazz vocal group Lambert, Hendricks and Ross who encouraged her to "think like an instrument" and move to New York. She has since worked with such music masters as Ellis Marsalis, Henry Butler (no relation), Edward Frank, Alvin Batiste, Earl Turbinton, and the late James Black.

And though this performance is a studio recording, LaVerne want you to listen as if you were just two tables from the stage.

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189
Album Review

Laverne Butler: A Foolish Thing To Do

Read "A Foolish Thing To Do" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Laverne Butler follows up her MaxJazz debut Blues in the City with a more lush and subdued offering.

Laverne Butler's voice is like a ribbon that she has tied onto a beautiful, sexy bow. Her latest, A Foolish Thing to Do exudes an established confidence not totally in place for her debut, Blues In The City. Following a recent trend in including more contemporary pop songs in the jazz repertoire, Ms. Butler deftly tackles the Goffin/King nugget “Go Away Little ...

145
Album Review

LaVerne Butler: Blues in the City

Read "Blues in the City" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


In the Tradition. Was Bessie Smith a “blues singer” or a “jazz singer”? What about Dinah Washington? Billie Holiday is an easier case. She recorded only two true twelve bar blues songs. But these other artists? They are not so easy. So with the case of LaVerne Butler. The music on Blues In The City is that seductive hybrid existing where the edges of barroom blues and high-style jazz begin to dissolve into one another, creating an aural taste and ...

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"Ever since Cassandra Wilson, Holly Cole and Diana Krall started topping the jazz charts, record companies have been signing almost any woman with a strong, sulky voice... LaVerne Butler stands out in this suddenly crowded field because she is no warmed-over pop singer; the Louisiana veteran has a sure grasp of jazz's two essential elements—blues and swing." —Washington Post

"LaVerne Butler is a rising star with fine jazz chops." (3.5 stars) —Skanner Newspapers

"...is an exceptional jazz singer, yet her vibe is the blues. Her delivery is authoritative yet passionate as she gives new meaning to favorites such as ‘Please Send Me Someone To Love,' -This Bitter Earth' & -Since I Fell For You.'" —Ebony

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