THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
2,015) Jo Anne Garrett — “We Can Learn Together”
Jo Ann Garrett (see #950) gives us a “jaunty” (Steve Krakow, https://chicagoreader.com/music/local-soul-sensation-jo-ann-garrett-disappeared-from-the-biz-in-her-20s/) and “ridiculously funky!” (AIsearchpros, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftdkar_9ihU) dose of Chicago soul. “I like the lazy strut and horn heavy funk . . . one of those delicious mid-tempo groove monsters where everything is sockin’ it on the one.” (Soulmakossa, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/joann-garrett/just-a-taste/) Sock it to me!
As to Jo Anne Garrett, Soulmakossa says:
One of Chicago’s finest female soul vocalists, [she] never made the Big Leagues in terms of commercial success and ditto status. Nonetheless, the few singles she did record, along with [a] lone album for legendary Chess Records, surely stand out as some of the finest Windy City soul available. Miss Garrett’s voice has the passion of Aretha [see #1,161, 1,249], the ‘swang’ of Carla Thomas [see #432, 1,372] and the beautiful sophistication of Minnie Riperton [see #23, 478].
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/joann-garrett/just-a-taste/
Steve Krakow goes deep (dish*):
Garrett was a Chicago sensation in the late 60s and early 70s, but she didn’t break out nationally . . . . Her reputation as a talented soprano singer caught the attention of her [DuSable High School] classmate Cormie Vance, who sang with R&B vocal group the Para-Monts . . . . Vance urged Garrett to audition for WVON DJ and club owner Pervis Spann. Garrett passed the audition, which got her a spot at a talent show at the Regal Theater. She took second place . . . and . . . ended up with record contracts. . . . [H]er music career was being managed by Spann and Robert “Bob” Lee, who owned a small local label called Hawk Records . . . . Beginning in 1966 [Spann] co-owned the south-side venue known simply as “the Club” . . . . Garrett began performing regularly [there] and around the city, and soon she . . . . cut two dreamy soul ballads . . . . Chess Records picked up the recordings and released them as Garrett’s first single, and the record did well locally in spring 1966. . . . [Then] the ethereal “Thousand Miles Away” (a remake of the 1957 Heartbeats hit) . . . . earned a lot of Chicago airplay and enough attention in markets outside the city that Garrett could tour. In 1968, Garrett . . . began working with a fledgling company called Duo . . . . Garrett’s debut . . . fared very well locally, and Garrett released several more excellent singles with Duo over the next few years . . . . [I]n 1969, [Chesa] released her lone LP, Just a Taste . . . . contain[ing] a few tunes that had previously been local favorites—alongside the excellent psych-soul number “It’s No Secret[]” . . . “Walk on By” [see #950] . . . and a smoky, jazzy rendition of the Nat King Cole classic “Unforgettable.” Chess released a single from the album . . . but neither it nor the album made much of a splash at the time. . . . . The last Garrett release that I can find any evidence of online is an R&B-adjacent 1972 single for the Duke label . . . . After that point, it looks like she retired from music.
MichaelSmith-yb5bb writes:
[Jo Anne] went to DuSable High School in Chicago and live[d] in the “Hole” in the Robert Taylor projects. She and my sister were classmates. Her brother Larry was mine. We all were glad she made it. Lovely voice.
I am glad she made it too.
* Well, this is Chicago soul!
Here is a documentary on Jo Ann’s life and times:
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