Betty Davis
Le Castellet, France
July 1976

JPG of Betty at Le Castellet. Sadly this funk gem is only 20:81 minutes.

1. Intro > Nasty Gal - fade out
2. The Lone Ranger > He Was A Big Freak

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"If Betty were singing today she be something like Madonna, something like Prince,  only as a woman. She was the beginning of all that when she was singing as Betty Davis."
        --Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe, Miles: The Autobiography"


Here's a geat review of "Nasty Gal" by Paul Escamilla

 "My god is this woman BAD!

 Not only was Betty Davis the sexiest woman who ever walked this planet, she released several of the greatest funk albums ever produced. Those who know of her usually just think of her as a model who was married to Miles Davis for a year. But she was much, much more than just a mere footnote in the bio of the greatest jazz musician ever.

 First of all, I think it's fair to say that Betty Davis was responsible for the development of jazz fusion. Why? Because when Miles Davis fell under the spell of this woman (and what man wouldn't?), she made it her mission to turn him onto the new funk & soul music that was revolutionizing America. She hipped him up to the new sounds and the new fashions, and Miles responded with a creative burst that cemented his rep as the greatest jazz innovator in history. He combined his jazz with her funk and out came jazz fusion.

 Well, the marriage ended, but Betty set out to prove her own musical genius, and she did it with a series of albums that stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the greatest funk albums ever. She enlisted the aid of the best musicians and let the nastiness flow out of her.

 This album, like the others, features her snarling, vicious vocals which sound like nothing so much as a wildcat in heat. It is a primal force of sexuality that is unequalled in musical history. Her vocals are sex incarnate. Dirty, raw, sweaty, up-against-the-wall sex. James Brown sounds like s schoolboy in comparison. Marvin Gaye would be intimidated. Chaka Khan would bow down. Wilt Chamberlain would be left exhausted in a heap in the corner.

 Buy any Betty Davis you can find. That is an order."

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