| Publication: "The
Tribune Review/Showcase/ Headline: Inkspots make a big splash Date: Monday March 9, 1998 Written By: Joanna Manning for The Tribune/Port Colborne" (Full story below) "It was real, one hundred percent good time trip back through the years. A stroll down memory lane to the days when couples danced slowly and close together, when people drove Hudsons and Packards, an you could actually hear the worlds of popular songs. |
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| Back in 1932 four young black musicians got together and formed one of the first, one of the few, crossover groups in popular music. More than six decades later, the current members of the Inkspots proved that old black magic is as potent, as rich brew ever. Right from the fluid opening "Route 66' the musicians captivated with their energy, zest, their persuasive way with songs made famous by other singers and groups. They lit and and re-lit flames in many a heart with their rendition of I Don't Want to Set The World On Fire and rekindled memories with Vera Lynn's wartime classic The White Cliffs of Dover. |
| There were lump in the throat songs like Let It Be Me and heartbreaking,
tear swelling songs such as Time Out For Tears. Vocalists Lorenzo Conyers, first tenor and baritone Ray Richardson worked with some of the original Inkspots and both can belt out a rousing spiritual such as Down By The Riverside and whisper a soulful ballad like Cab Driver with equal skill and effect. Conyers in particular reaches for a finely sustained falsetto and revealed a rich vibrato in the lyrically moving My Prayer. At times he re-creates the florid, semi-operatic style of a Mario Lanza, in an encore he growled Armstrong-fashion to the audience's obvious delight. Richardson and Conyers shared vocal honours as they crooned their way through We Three and one and Only, served up snappy, swinging Marie, a pulsating Paper Doll, called up the calypso rhythms of Jamaica Farewell and put heart and soul into a moving It's A Sin To Tell A Lie". Elegant and stylish in black tie and tuxes, the group Saturday was six-strong, with their music director on bass, a guitarist, a wide smiling drummer with a good line in a quick repartee and guesting on keyboard, Grant Slater of Mississauga. By the time the Inkspots got to Whispering Grass and A Shanty In Old Shanty Town it was obvious why they remained so popular and been such an influence on decades of music of all styles. They create fine music you can listen to, dance to, cry to and love to. The evening proved if you give a good show the people will come. If the music is good it lives on. |
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| E-mail Ray Richardson's Ink Spots |
