Although he might be better known for his more pop-oriented hits like “Natural Man” and “You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine,” Lou Rawls was a truly versatile performer. He came from the gospel tradition, recorded with Sam Cooke, and released some fine straight-up jazz records. He crossed over and back and forth across most music associated with the African American tradition. He is even credited by some with helping to pave the way for rap.
A Chicago native, Rawls, like his good friend Cooke, was a member of a significant gospel group and achieved early success in that genre. Serving in the military for two years in the mid-'50's, Rawls embarked on a tour with Cooke after his discharge in 1958. En route from St. Louis to Memphis their car was involved in a serious wreck. Cooke was relatively uninjured, but Rawls was almost killed and would be out of commission for almost a year. Upon his recovery, Rawls moved to L.A. where he played almost any type of gig he could find. Capitol producer Nick Venet discovered Rawls at a coffee shop in 1962. His first album, Stormy Monday (also released under the title I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water) paired him with the Les McCann trio and became what Will Friedwald considered a "first-inning home run." Besides the two alternate title numbers, the album also featured several other jazz and blues standards, for instance, "God Bless the Child," "Tain't Nobody's Business," "Willow Weep for Me." Although I couldn't find the versions of any of the songs from Stormy Monday Youtube, I am posting a clip of "Willow Weep for Me" from a TV show that features the same instrumentation. Despite the difference in accompanists, you can get a good idea of the vocal treatment of the singer who Frank Sinatra credited with having "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game" and whose voice another critic described as "sweet as sugar, soft as velvet, strong as steel, and smooth as butter." More steel than butter or sugar is evident in "Tobacco Road," which became a 1963 hit for Rawls.
Rawls achieved his first gold record with the album Live, released in 1966. One feature of this album that would contribute to his future success, and would later cause some to credit him as a precursor of rap, was the use of monologues to introduce some of his songs. Presented below is "Dead End Street," which won Rawls a Grammy in 1967.
Throughout the late sixties and on through the seventies Rawls achieved his greatest commercial success with such hits as "Love is a Hurtin' Thing," "Natural Man," "Lady Love," and "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine." Beginning in 1982, however, he signed with Blue Note and recorded some albums that would take him away from the "disco-ish" style of "You'll Never Find," and back in the direction of the music recorded earlier in his career. One of these, At Last, included two duets with Dianne Reeves, the title tune and "Fine Brown Frame," both of which are presented below.
Although Lou Rawls was most closely associated with music from the African American tradition, he also had a strong affinity for the Great American Songbook in general, and Frank Sinatra in particular. It was perhaps fitting that Rawls final album would be Rawls Sings Sinatra, which he recorded three years before his death in 2006 from cancer. Presented below is the lightly swinging "The Second Time Around" from that final album.
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