Description
*This is a Vinyl LP*
Release Date: 2021
Label: Orleans Records
Track List
Side A
1. Hungry for Love
2. A gypsy Woman Told Me
3. La Muchacha Cha Cha
4. Agnes English
5. Working So Hard for My Baby’s Love
Side B
1. Pass the Hatchet
2. Life in Heaven
3. I’m Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail
4. It’s Up to You
5. The House of the Rising Sun
Personnel
Carlo Ditta – guitar, vocals
Anthony Donado – drums
Chewy “Thunderfoot” Black – drums
Earl “Stereo” Stanley – bass, maracas
David Hyde – bass
Rick Stelma – Wurlitzer piano, organ
Jerry Jumonville – sax and horn arrangements
Andrew Bernard – tenor sax, baritone sax, Wurlitzer piano
Johnny Peninno – sax
Angelamia Bachemin – congas
Dave Easley – pedal steel
Mark Trentacosta – guitar
Trea Swindell, Deanna Bernard – background vocals
Freddy Staehle – rain stick, tinker bells, tribal drum
Review
Hungry for Love teams Carlo with handpicked music veterans responsible for some of Southern Louisiana’s most enduring and beloved ‘60s recordings. The album was released on Ditta’s own Orleans Records label May 3rd.
Ditta presents himself and the area’s soulful rhythm-and-blues legacy through five originals, colorful remakes of regional R&B and Funk classics, and imaginative interpretations of traditional songs, drawing on his decades of experience producing amazing albums for some of New Orleans’ most powerful if underappreciated talents.
Hungry for Love features performance by saxophonist and keyboardist Andrew Bernard (John Fred and the Playboys); bassist Earl Stanley (Dr. John, Roger and the Gypsies, Earl Stanley and the Stereos); keyboardist Rick Stelma (Dr. Spec’s Optical Illusion); bassist David Hyde; and drummer Chewy “Thunderfoot” Black all of whom appeared on Ditta’s 2014 solo debut What I’m Talkin’ About. Other local legends who contribute to the new album include saxophonists Jerry Jumonville (Captain Beefheart, Bette Miller, Rod Stewart); saxophonist Johnny Pennino (Skip Easterling, Freddy Fender); and drummer Freddy Staehle (Dr. John, Al Hirt, Eric Clapton).
With the album’s title song Carlo and company conjure a hypnotic hoodoo vibe worthy of North Louisiana legend Tony Joe White. The remake of Eddie Powers’ “Gypsy Woman Told Me,” includes bass from Earl Stanley who co-wrote it and played on the 1964 original. He also plays on “Pass the Hatchet,” the local proto-funk hit from 1966 he helped write and recorded with Roger and the Gypsies.
In “La MuChaCha Cha,” another original, Ditta inveigles against an unfaithful lover over seductively warm and grooving Latin rhythms; Spanish guitar and congas reinforce the tropical vibe. “Agnes English” by Baton Rouge hit-makers John Fred and the Playboys, gets a spooky makeover that features Andrew Bernard, an original member of the Playboys and co-writer of the song, playing tenor sax and Wurlitzer keyboards.
Carlo goes full-tilt Soul on “Working So Hard for My Baby’s Love,” an original composition featuring Jumonville’s gutsy sax playing and inventive arranging. In the contemplative, reggae-flavored “Life in Heaven,” Ditta addresses big questions about life and love, singing as low and breathy as late period Leonard Cohen.
All these tracks are deeply steeped in Louisiana’s steamy, soulful rhythm-and-blues heritage which he’s labored to preserve and promote, rediscovering and producing albums for overlooked veteran artists from the region and released them on his Orleans Records label.
