Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Lipbone Redding, Beautiful Flying Records 2022.
Lawrence ‘Lipbone’ Redding is an American singer/songwriter who specialises in vocalisations of instruments such as trombone, bass, and drums and writing amazing, heartfelt, songs.
He’s also a practitioner of throat singing, a technique that is often associated with the Mongolians, although it is used by many indigenous cultures around the world.
The name Lipbone is a contraction of lip-trombone.
Originally from Carolina, but for a long time based in New York, Redding has been around the music scene for many years and has had his music feature in numerous television shows.
He’s also had chart success for his albums with his 2007 album Jump The Fence reaching number three in the radio charts and remaining in the top ten for eleven consecutive weeks.
In 2011 his album Unbroken reached number 71 on the Americana Music Association chart for best albums of the year.
Redding has also dabbled in theatre and dance, he was a collaborator and co-composer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company for their production Chapel/Chapter which was awarded the 2006-7 Bessie Awards by the New York Dance & Performance Awards Committee.
The same production also won Toronto’s 2008 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Production.
This particular collection covers songs from most of his albums and covering some of his vocalisation styles, especially his impressive trombone impersonations.
Much of the album is acoustic and folk influenced although there are many differing styles including up-tempo R&B.
This is an album full of songs of social conscience.
Songs like Days of Destruction, Child of War, Love is The Answer For World Peace, Dogs Of Santiago, Refugees And Vagabonds etc. could stand amongst any of the great protest songs of the past.
Lawrence uses many differing styles and genres including Calypso, soul, Latin, blues, and roots in the 22 songs on the Lipbone Collection and they really are an impressive set of songs.
He includes a great tribute to the late great Jamaican and founding Wailer, Peter Tosh, in a song of the same name.
Peter Tosh was murdered in a home invasion by a gunman on a motorcycle back in 1987.
I’m really pleased that I came across this album because Lawrence Lipbone Redding is an artist that deserves to be heard by a wide audience.
Highly recommended.
