This week, our video showcase features a couple of clips from saxophonist Richard Elliot, who's coming to the St. Louis area with the Jazz Attack show on Thursday, April 9 to perform at the Ameristar Casino St. Charles' Bottleneck Blues Bar.
The 2009 Jazz Attack tour features Elliot, his frequent collaborator Rick Braun on trumpet, and singer/guitarist Jonathan Butler, and odds are that the saxophonist will be working in a number or two from his new CD Rock Steady, which was recorded with Elliot's touring band plus guest stars Braun, Gerald Albright, Philippe Saisse and Jeff Lorber.
Rock Steady is basically a program of soul- and funk-styled material, including covers of tunes associated with Aretha Franklin (the title track) and Curtis Mayfield. That's Mayfield's song “Move on Up," originally recorded by the Impressions, that Elliot is doing in the first video window up at the top of this post. This brand-new clip is the only Rock Steady-related video released so far, but in the interest of a well-rounded post, down below we've added a 2006 live version of Elliot laying into another soul classic, the Percy Sledge hit “When A Man Loves A Woman."
