Angela Tini

Angela Tini – Have You Met Me Yet?

RUM BAR Records – RUM157 [2023]
Have You Met Me Yet? – 200 Pounds of Fun – Dirty Dog – Drop Dead – Tintarella di Luna – Red Hot Henrietta Brown – Don’t Tease Me – Let You Go – Let’s Talk About It – Sotto le stelle – Come On Down – Fool Me Once

We’ve already had the opportunity to hear and appreciate Angela Tini’s powerful voice with the Starjays. The release of her first full-length solo album is therefore welcome news, especially since she’s joined by the cream of the crop of Los Angeles roots musicians (the Long Beach Wreckin’ Crew, as she calls them): Carl Sonny Leyland on piano, Shorty Poole on bass, Josh Collazo on drums, Tommy Harkenrider on guitar, and Johnny Viau on saxophone. Dani Colace and Abby Maharaj complete the team on backing vocals. Leyland not only plays piano, but also produces the album and contributes to the writing of the original tracks that make up this record (nine songs out of twelve). Three covers complete the setlist: 200 Pounds of Fun by the late Candye Kane, a new version of Tintarella de Luna that Tini already sang with the Starjays in 2016 and a barrelhouse version of Red Hot Henrietta Brown (the song dates from the 1920s; but Tini’s version is inspired more by Sue Thompson’s).
Listening to this album, you realize that Tini has earned her title as Duchess of Rhythm & Blues. I haven’t heard a voice of this quality since Dana Dattalo of the Jive Bombers. Her voice, free of any clichés or mannerisms, conveys a whole range of emotion, which perfectly serves the Rhythm ‘n’ Blues she performs. Whether it’s the languid Dirty Dog, the groovy Don’t Tease Me or the slow and heartbreaking Let You Go, she always demonstrates impeccable good taste. She is equally at home in the more nervous and fast tracks like Come On Down (which recalls Mess Around) or the frenetic Fool Me Once, a boogie woogie/early Rock’n’Roll à la Roll ‘Em Pete.
Two Italian-language tracks punctuate the set: the aforementioned Tintarella de Luna and Sotto Le Stelle, which capture the spirit of early 1960s Italian pop songs. To top it all off, Big Sandy joins the singer for a duet on Let’s Talk About It, their voices complementing and echoing each other harmoniously. Big Sandy is no stranger to this, having previously recorded duets with Candye Kane and Vicky Tafoya.
So, to sum up, with a singer with exceptional ease and timbre, accompanied by a group of musicians at the top of their game, always at the service of the song, knowing how to step back to showcase Tini’s voice, only to return for short, incisive solos, you won’t be surprised if I tell you that this album is a must-have.
If you still need to be convinced, maybe the best is to leave the last word to the singer: “There are jivers and strollers, but every song is an ass shaker.”