by Albert Rodriguez - SGN A&E Writer

Bettye LaVette
February 3
Dimitriou's Jazz Alley

It wasn't Sunday morning and we weren't sitting in pews, but church was definitely in service when Bettye LaVette came to town last week. The Grammy-nominated soul queen packed them in at the Jazz Alley on the first of four consecutive evenings, most at full capacity.

LaVette opened her show with 'The Word,' off last year's release Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook. Dressed in black slacks and a shiny matching blouse, she moved her hips in a circle and sunk her deep, smoky vocals into that song and the following number, 'I Still Want to Be Your Baby (Take Me As I Am)' from 2007's The Scene of the Crime. So intense was LaVette's singing, her face puckered like someone biting into a ripe lemon.

Before moving onto 'Choices,' a George Jones cover, the Michigan native thanked the crowd and all her Seattle fans for supporting her career when others didn't. On the topic of her most recent Grammy nomination, she said that whether she won or lost, it was 'an honor to be recognized, period.'

The blues diva continued with a bleeding rendition of Dolly Parton's 'Little Sparrow,' in which her facial expressions and hand movements helped tell the story behind the song about a broken-hearted woman, but then perked things up with a lively run-through of 'Joy.'

LaVette's newest CD, Interpretations, puts an R&B spin on rock classics made popular by British male artists. 'While they were the songs of your youth, they were the nemesis of mine,' she stated in reference to rock 'n' roll's takeover of music during the '60s and '70s. With that, she delivered poignant versions of back-to-back Beatles songs, 'Isn't It a Pity' written by George Harrison and 'It Don't Come Easy' penned by Ringo Starr. The latter featured great slide guitar work from Brett Lucas.

She introduced 'Your Time to Cry' as a track from her first album in 1972, Souvenirs, and a hit single recorded by Joe Simon - she added, 'but I sing it better' (and she did). And she wasn't through yet, taking Elton John and Bernie Taupin's 'Talking Old Soldiers' down a cloudy, gripping path and then wailing on The Who's 'Love Reign O'er Me,' which LaVette performed at the Kennedy Center Honors two years ago. She also snuck in 'A Woman Like Me,' the title track from her 2003 album, towards the end.

LaVette closed it out on a high note, an a cappella rendition of Sinead O'Connor's 'I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got' and earned her second standing ovation of the night.

It was a religious experience hearing and watching Bettye LaVette perform at the Jazz Alley, as if I'd been baptized along with my table of friends. When it comes to the blues, this lady has the power to convert those on the fence and revitalize the faithful.