Barbara Morrison: 1949-2022

Barbara Morrison, a soul-jazz singer whose artful vocal control, powerful delivery and stage charisma captivated club audiences, died on March 16. She was 72.

Born in 1949, Morrison came of age in the late 1960s and didn't start recording until the early 1970s. By then, a career in jazz and the blues had grown more difficult and was a struggle for singers who hadn't made a name for themselves in the 1950s. Clubs had already rolled over to rock and soul, with many converting to disco mid-decade.

But music trends didn't stop Morrison. She initially found a compatriot in R&B pioneer Johnny Otis and soon blended the phrasing of Dinah Washington and Little Jimmy Scott in her club delivery. Where she excelled was on covers of soul hits, and she easily would have had hits of her own and become a household name if record producers and management had steered her to record in the style of the day.

While Morrison performed on limited tours in the 1980s and '90s, she tended to remain in Los Angeles performing at clubs. Though she never had a pop or R&B hit, Morrison was a spectacular singer who could pull all the flavor and nuance out of a jazz or soul song and give it her own feel. Listening to Morrison, your ears immediately tell you that with the right material and breaks, she could have gone much further, if that's what she wanted to do. Clearly, she was more comfortable with an audience that already knew and loved her, and that relationship only grew stronger over the years.

Here are 10 of my favorite clips that show off the earthy magnificence of Barbara Morrison:

Here's Hey Boy! I Want Ya with Johnny Otis in 1977...

Here's When Will You Be Mine? with the Leslie Drayton Orchestra in 1984...

Here's Dreams in Flight with guitarist David T. Walker in 1987, with Oscar Brashear (tp), Neil Oda (synt,perc), Jerry Peters (keyboards), David T. Walker (g), Scott Edwards (b), James Gadson and (d) Joe Clayton (perc)...

Here's I Was Doing All Right in Germany in 1992, with Lafayette Harris, Jr. (p), Johannes Weidenmueller (b) and Thilo Berg (d)...

Here's Everyday I Have the Blues in 1999 with Doc Severinson...

Here's All My Tomorrows in Sweden in 2002, backed by Gunnar Bergsten (bar), Peter Nordahl (p), Anders Ullberg (g), Patrik Boman (b) and Jesper Kviberg (d)...

Here's Hit the Road Jack in 2002, with Steve Campos (tp), Charles McNeal (ts), John R. Burr (keyboards), Danny Caron (g) and Ruth Davies (b) John Haynes (d)...

Here's Morrison's superb cover of Al Green's Let's Stay Together in 2012 with Houston Person. Here, she probably should have devoted the entire album to covers of Al Green's hits...

Here's Morrison's cover of the Spinners' I'll Be Around in 2012. Dig how she fully understands the song and gives it just the right feel...

And here's This Masquerade in 2012...