Corinne Bailey Rae recently completed an eight-show residency at Manhattan's beloved Blue Note Jazz Club, performing in 2023 Black rainbows – which explores soul, garage rock, jazz, downtempo electronic and even a bit of house – entirely. This album was one of the best of the year, but seeing it performed live—with Rae sharing the painful and inspiring stories of black American history that drove her to make these songs—it became clear that the ideas and concepts behind from the album are just as rich and amazing as the tapestry music.
Black rainbows began to take shape when the English singer-songwriter visited The Stony Island Arts Bank on Chicago's South Side. The hybrid space, opened by Theaster Gates in 2015, is a gallery, media library and museum featuring everything from African-American magazines dating back to the 1940s to the personal vinyl collection of house godfather Frankie Knuckles to a collection of historical objects depicting black people. in blatantly racist ways. In short, it is a complex space dedicated to African-American history, giving people the opportunity to confront the beautiful and the ugly alike.
Rae's visit turned into a constant reading of the collection, and soon, new songs began to form in her mind. A vintage photo of a teenage girl who won the title of “Miss New York Transit” 70 years ago inspired the riot grrrl energy of her song “New York Transit Queen” (Rae even tracked down and interviewed the woman, Audrey Smaltz) The story of author/abolitionist Harriet Jacobs, who escaped slavery but spent seven years in a cramped hiding place, watching her children play through a peephole, informed the upbeat but elegiac “Peach Velvet Sky.” Ads by Valmor Products, a Chicago-based beauty brand aimed at African-American women, led to the jazzy, atmospheric “He Will Follow You With His Eyes.” and a sweaty dance party to Knuckles' records at the Stony Island Arts Bank led to the smash “Put It Down.”
Midway through the set of 'Put It Down' at the Blue Note on Friday (February 16), a woman in the seated audience got up and started dancing – greeting the sight with a smile, Rae came off the stage to join her as the band retained the groove that sloped to the house. And from the sax player to the drummer, this band was a knockout. Perhaps Rae would explain the stories that inspired the songs before playing them, prompting her players to bring each one to vibrant, vivid life in this intimate space.
When it came time for the encore, Rae playfully belted out her 2006 soul-pop gem “Put Your Records On” and the sweetly psychedelic “Trouble Sleeping” from the same album. It probably goes without saying that it will forever be associated with the first one, and there's nothing wrong with that – it's a timeless classic, one that recently found a Gen Z audience via a viral cover. But Black rainbows is Rae's best artistic statement to date, an extraordinary tapestry that electrifies both intellectually and emotionally – and to see her present this multi-layered work live is a gift.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/concerts/corinne-bailey-rae-black-rainbows-blue-note-live-1235610990/