*Patti LaBelle pays tribute to the history of jazz with the release of her new album, “Bel Hommage.”
The effort is LaBelle’s 19th solo studio project and features renditions of 13 classic jazz hits from the likes of Nina Simone (“Wild is the Wind”), Frank Sinatra (“Softly as I Leave You”) and Gloria Lynne (“The Folks Who Live on the Hill”) among others.
(Check out her raw, gritty and mesmerizing vocals ABOVE on “The Jazz In You” which she performed recently on “The View.”)
The “Lady Marmalade” singer, who will be 73 on May 24, tells HuffPost that she was initially reluctant to make a foray into the jazz genre because of her 50+ year career as an R&B/soul singer.
“I was very hesitant at first, because I’m not a jazz singer,” she said. “My ex-husband [Armstead Edwards], who’s also involved with the album coming to where it is now, we fought a lot about it. I said, ‘I don’t wanna do jazz, I don’t think I can do it well.’”
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LaBelle says it took the convincing of Edwards and her early childhood memories of listening to jazz greats to get her to truly commit to recording this album.
“[Edwards] kept bothering me about singing this song and that song,” she recalled. “And then I got into the spirit and I started remembering some songs that I loved from back in the day and being much, much more involved than I thought I would be.”
The Philadelphia native says she plans to tour the country with a jazz trio.
“And now that it’s done I love this project. It took about a year and a half to do something with it and I’m happy about it now,” she continued. “I feel as though I have conquered my fears by doing it.”
Pattie encourages other artists who may be apprehensive to record across multiple genres to take a chance.
“There is always room to overcome what you may think of as a challenge and to accept the gift that may be disguised as a challenge because at least you can say you tried,” she said. “I believe in myself even more now that I took a chance on this album.”
“Bel Hommage” is in stores and digital retailers NOW.
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