Great Spirits

this weeks music treat: Little Ann

    This week's musical treat is Little Ann's "Deep Shadows", which we raved about in our last blog entry. Her music seems to be available only in a vinyl LP release of the same name, as well as in a couple of various artist cd collections issued by Kent Records in the UK. But the "Deep Shadows" LP is the one place to get most of Little Ann's recordings, including some previously unreleased.

Little Ann's Lost Soul Found

     Radio can still deliver magic moments. Of course, the radio station that delivers the magic is most likely to be a non-commercial, satellite or internet station. Case in point, I was driving home from work on a Thursday evening down the New Jersey turnpike. Down around Exit 6, the exit for the Pennslvania Turnpike, I got within range of 88.9FM, the Burlington County Community College Station,  which also streams online I believe.  The program which comes on at the time is a program of soul music, much of it of the Quiet Storm variety hosted by Chill Will. The music selections range from the Sixties up through present day. Chill Will has excellent taste and though I am fairly well versed in R & B I usually hear a few great selections that I had not heard before on every show.

     So I'm cruising along and all of a sudden I hear a female voice, strong but edgy, with echoes of Dinah Washington, Shirley Goodman (of "Shame Shame Shame" fame and at time Martha Reeves. The song is a raw, sparse soul ballad; the singer is singing about the currents of love, singing about "deep shadows". The overall effect is haunting, almost spooky. Who was that singer.

     Once drawback of Chill Will is that he doesn't always announce the songs or if he does it is usually after playing five or six in a row.  But this time he mentioned the name of the singer; I scribbled it down as I drove:  Little Ann. I'd never heard of Little Ann. But as soon as I got home I did a google search and took a wild guess that the song I'd heard was called "Deep Shadows."  Bingo. I found on YouTube, that someone had posted songs of Little Ann, including "Deep Shadows."  I was determined to track it down. My first plan was to call Val Shively's R & B Records in Upper Darby, PA; with their inventory of 45's reportedly in the millions --and if you've ever been in his shop you believe it!--they usually will have or know about the most obscure releases. But I was too busy to get over there and his line is often busy for hours at a time as collectors from around the world blow up his phone searching for treasure. More nosing around the internet  turned up mention of a recently released LP "Deep Shadows" by Little Ann. Evidently it had only been issued on vinyl not CD. Interesting and strange, though I knew some re-issue labels employed this strategy, sometimes later issuing the album on CD. But every source for listing the LP for sale noted that it was "sold out."  Fortunately the good folks at DustyGrooves.com have a feature whereby you can put in an order for items out of stock and be notified as soon as it comes back in stock. A few weeks later I got the notificaiton and confirmed the order. A few days later, a copy of Little Ann's "Deep Shadows" album arrived by mail.

       I immediately put it on. "Deep Shadows" is the opening cut and it sounded and magical as when I'd heard it on the radio. Ironically it is the only cut on the album that is not mentioned in the liner notes at all. Turns out that Little Ann was an obscure Detroit singer who got her first break recording for Ric Tic Records in 1968. Ric Tic was a Detroit indie label who often used moonlighting Motown musicians on their sessions. That initial release by Little Ann made no impact in the world. Little Ann next popped up recording for Da Da Productions, a little label run by Darrell Goolsby and Dave Hamilton; Hamilton had been a session musician for Motown. Ann recorded several tracks for Da Da but only one was ever released: "Going Down A One WAy Street".  That one also went nowhere. But a soul fanatic UK dee jay somehow came into possession of an acetate of "Going Down A One Way Street" with "Lean Lanky Daddy" on the flip and started playing it under a fictitious name. The sang became a hit on the UK Northern Soul club scene. Ace Records in the UK, egged on by collectors, bought the Da Da tapes that Little Ann had recorded and released a couple of other tracks which became Northern Soul favorites. Unlike many popular records on the Northern Soul circuit, which tends to prize obscure though often mediocre recordings, Little Ann's material was high quality. She co-wrote most of the songs.

       So, the Swedish label TImmion collected all the Da Da recordings of Little Ann and released them on the LP "Deep Shadows."  It really is quite a find, though "Deep Shadows" to my ears is the most sublime. As for Little Ann, I came across information that suggested until recently she was running a bar in Ohio but may have recently passed away. It is quite a little saga, all occasioned by a magic moment provided by a dee jay sending music into the night.