Thursday, May 21, 2009
Stevie As A Sideman To Fellow Legends
I love YouTube's role as a giant jukebox of cultural ephemera. I used to hate it when a classmate or work colleague would come up to me and say "Hey did you see _______ lay it down with______ on
Here are a couple of gems I found one night doing the YouTube, looking for music that wasn't shot on someone's cell phone. Stevie Wonder performs a couple of his best tunes with a couple of other legendary musical geniuses. He brings a touch of Stevie to the performances, but it is clear to me that he is doing all he can for them as well.
Living For the City with Ray Charles
The funkiness of these masters slices through the bloated television variety show orchestra. Ray's fingers are on fire and his first couple of choruses transform it from its prior history as a hit tune on innervisions and take into something you would hear on an all blues and gospel label somewhere between Hi and Malaco records, a world that never saw a cross over like the ones that Al Green, Brother Ray and others had.
And then there's Ray's rap in the middle testifying about the plight of the ghetto with desperation at the keyboard pulpit. At another point his cryouts to Stevie 'All Right Son" come out with real deal gladness in the midst of television madness.
Wonder gets his licks in, but he is obviously there for the master's voice
Until You Come Back To Me with Aretha Franklin
You gotta Respect the Reee. Aretha Franklin and Stevie transform what could be a fully 100% cheez moment when they do Wonder's Until You Come Back To Me. And time has its way of changing bodies and ravaging voices once so sweet and unique. But the soul and phrasing is still there. Again, Steve is there to give
And a lovely thing happens, the arrangement kind of breaks down and Stevie laughs and seems to love the moment of near collapse as they fade out wrapping on doors tapping on window panes.
posted by well-executed buffet at 9:33 AM
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