Posted By: Editor
January 30, 2022
Sarah Brown “I’m On My Way” Exclusive Review
Right from the opening few bars, you can almost anticipate what’s coming! That is a priceless thing, as this song is about to embark you on a journey. A Latino, rumba, groove style automatically fills the room. The opening few lyrics, “On my way” just eloquently reaffirms the above!
The piano driving the melody sounds like rain forest raindrops, with a unique Bossa nova, Salsa vibe – the one that instantly makes you want to move, tap your foot or dance.
Sarah’s voice emulates a power that is so unpredictably melodic and soulful, you have no idea where it’s going to take you. A Jazzy piano solo over the top of many musical styles that Sarah has managed to blend into one, the production and sound is another level. The latter part of the song has a soft light Hammond organ sound, not too high in the mix but a wonderful sustain, you will know exactly what I mean! Resonates with sheer class and a rhythm you don’t learn, you’re born with it!
Glory halleluiah, kind of sums this song up perfectly! It’s new, it’s moving, its vintage, it’s timeless, it’s a masterclass in feel and dynamics. It’s Sarah Brown, if her voice was a signature in music, her autograph is right here! And I’ll gladly put mine below!
Jamie Sinclair
The single is available on all Digital Platforms
Taken from the forthcoming album ‘Sarah Brown Sings Mahalia Jackson’
You may not know Sarah Brown’s name but you’ll definitely have heard her voice.
From her collaborations with the likes of George Michael, Stevie Wonder, Duran Duran, Simply Red, Roxy Music, Pink Floyd, Simple Minds…… Sarah Brown is one of the most prolific and in-demand vocalists in the world.
Jim Kerr from Simple Minds comments: “In a sane world Sarah’s colossal talent would ensure that she would be front of stage every night, so I would be in the front row. Every night. I am her biggest fan after all”
And the time is now for Sarah to move front of stage with the release of “I’m On My Way’ the lead track from the forthcoming album ‘Sarah Brown Sings Mahalia Jackson’.
Sarah comments: “I grew up Pentecostal, which was very much like the American black Baptist churches, with the sound of the tambourines, basses, guitars, Hammond organs, people stomping their feet, dancing in the aisle and really having a good time!
Back in the 50s and 60s Pentecostalism wasn’t that common or popular but a lot of Caribbean’s (my mother and father were Jamaican born and part of the Windrush generation) Pentecostalism was a medium to voice their suppression. They would sing spiritual songs and really vent frustration and anger through those songs and gain comfort” that is the arena I grew in”
The seed that grew ‘I’m On My Way’ and then the album was planted back some 20 plus years ago, when Sarah Brown was singing backing on the Roxy Music reunion tour.
Waiting for soundcheck, she stood on the stage as Roxys’ pianist Colin Good was warming up on an old blues tune by Ma Rainey. “And as he played I was immediately transported back to when I was eight and in church on a Sunday and these matriarchal figures, these big black mamas dressed like Audrey Hepburn, were bellowing out their Mahalia Jackson hymns, they were crying out from their very souls and as I listened to Colin I was crying too, lost in the music and I vowed I’d pay my own homage to Mahalia one day,” she says. “I needed to say thank you.”
‘I’m On My Way’ is Sarah’s way of saying thank you to Mahalia life and lasting legacy, and to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Mahalia Jackson’s death.
Mahalia Jackson (October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) is widely considered as a major influence on Mavis Staple, Little Richard, Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, Donna Summer, Ray Charles, and a Civil Rights Icon (Malcolm X noted that Jackson was “the first Negro that Negroes made famous”, Harry Belafonte stated “there’s not a single field hand, a single black worker, a single black intellectual who did not respond to her”, and it was Mahalia who prompted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr to improvise the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.
“Five decades have past since Mahalia Jackson left this earth and her influence still resonates. On the strength of this spectacular debut from Sarah Brown, she’ll be influencing future generations to come too” Lois Wilson | MOJO MAGAZINE
Photo Credit: Andrew Cotterill
