Howard Tate, Live (Shout! Factory)

 

In 2001, soul legend Howard Tate returned to performing for a Mystic Knights of the Mau Mau show at the Circle Bar. This live set from 2004 in Denmark leans heavily on his 2003 return to the studio, Rediscovered, but it serves as a reasonably good career overview. The two pleasant surprises are how well his voice and his falsetto have held up, and how good his band is. Too often, older artists come back with half-baked bands that undermine the singer’s best efforts. I miss the sense of adventure that led him to cover Dylan’s “Girl from the North Country” and the Band’s “Jemima Surrender” on his 1972 self-titled album for Atlantic, but this album defines classic southern soul.