Professor Cheryl L. Keyes Composes Track Issued by the “Tipitina’s Record Club”

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“First Time Around” composed by Cheryl Keyes is amongst the music tracks on the album, “The Other Side of Eddie Bo”, re-issued by Tipitina’s Record Club and released August 2023. Eddie Bo was one of New Orleans’s legendary rhythm and blues singer-songwriter on the music scene since 1950s. He released several singles some of which were recorded by noted RnB legends Eta James and Litle Richard. However, The Other Side of Eddie Bo was Eddie Bo’s first album, released in 1977. Keyes was then a music major at Xavier University of Louisiana when her band director, John A. Fernandez, recommended her music and musicianship to Eddie Bo.

On Bo’s self-titled album, Keyes performs flute on the instrumental piece “Searchin’” and keyboards on her composition, “First Time Around,” originally titled “C.K. Blues.” This piece highlights Keyes’s Professor Longhair-style piano licks and tight-harmonic saxophone lines accompanied by a rhythm section. As she admits to being influenced by Quincy Jones’s theme to Sanford and Son, Keyes “C. K. Blues” fit perfectly with the New Orleans style of funk. According to Brice White, the album’s liner notes writer, “The Other Side of Eddie Bo features all the hallmarks of every great Bo record of the previous 20+ years and adds new layers in time with the musical epoch of its creation, 1977. Bo brings together jazz, funk, disco, blues, RnB, and the rhythms of New Orleans in a cosmic synergy that connects with other such touchstone recordings as Dexter Wansel’s Life on Mars, Weldon Irvine’s Sinbad, and James Mason’s Rhythm of Life.” Please check- out Cheryl Keyes’ debut studio recording as an artist and composer-arranger on The Other Side of Eddie Bo.

Although it’s certainly not the re-issued/remastered track of “First Time Around,” you can check out the original recording here:

For further information about the re-issue or to purchase a copy please go to this link: https://tipitinasrecordclub.com/products/tipitinas-record-club-subscription-0304