HER NAME IS FONTELLA BASS

Twenty years ago I had a girlfriend named Lulu, who moved in with me within weeks of our first "date" (a day trip to Tijuana). She was from Laredo, Texas, and came from a very traditional Mexican family. What musical tastes we shared were limited to XPRS type oldies, in other words the sort of oldies that lowriders might listen to (XPRS was a station that transmitted from Mexico and had a far reaching signal due to looser regulations south of the border). One night, early in our relationship, when "Rescue Me" was playing she asked me who it was, and I told her that it was Fontella Bass. 

In the beginning, I thought Lulu was the one. She was incredibly gifted artist, she loved kids, was always up for anything, and not only tolerated the rag tag group of friends that I hung out with, but actually embraced them as her own. I was smitten. But, roughly a year and a half later after she moved in, she broke up with me. I was a mess. Then she decided to move to L.A., and as any pining ex in denial would, I offered to drive her and her belongings up there, still hoping that somehow she might change her mind. On the way up, "Rescue Me" came on the radio, and she turned it up, saying "Ooh! Fontella Bass!" I remember thinking at the time that if nothing else came from our relationship, at least she now knew who Fontella Bass was.

Discotheque scene from Les Stances a Sophie

All of that came flooding back today when I heard that Fontella Bass had died. The news report that I heard said something like "You may not know her name, but you know her song..."  and the first thing I thought of is "Lulu knows her name!" So here's that one and an incredible cut that she did just a few years later with the free jazz outfit Art Ensemble of Chicago. It's from the soundtrack of the French film Les Stances a Sophie, and if all you know is "Rescue Me", it's worth hearing her voice in a different context.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Art Ensemble of Chicago w/Fontella Bass - Theme de Yoyo mp3 at Monkey.org (?)
Fontella Bass - Rescue Me mp3 at Counter Clockwise