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Home > Hancher > Aretha Franklin

Playbill - Aretha Franklin (Saturday, October 23, 2004 - 8 p.m.)

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Musicians
  3. About the Artist

Introduction

This performance supported by Oaknoll Retirement Residency; Hartwig Motors, Inc.; Iowa State Bank & Trust Company; and Shive-Hattery, Inc. Media support from Iowa City Press-Citizen.

Tonight's program will be announced from the stage.

Musicians

Al Naylor and the I-380 Express (local musicians)

About the Artists

"The Queen of Soul," says one Rolling Stone writer, "has never been in better form. The songs are fresh, the hooks are seductive and the album--from start to finish--is filled with new pleasures and happy surprises."

Rated among the most celebrated artists of our time, Aretha Franklin is unique, not only for the power of her voice and passion of her music, but her ability to stay absolutely contemporary. A Rose Is Still A Rose teams Aretha with today's hottest producers-Puffy Combs, Lauryn Hill of the Fugees, Jermaine Dupri, Dallas Austin, Daryl Simmons, Michael Powell, Michael Narada Walden-and the results are dynamic, a smooth synthesis of classic soul and cutting-edge pop.

At the same time, A Rose Is Still A Rose reflects the wisdom and wit of someone who has lived the life of her songs. This is Aretha at the top of her game, singing with the emotional intensity that turned her into an international superstar.

Aretha has survived-and prospered-in the ever-changing world of musical fashion. Fact is, she has created a few fashions of her own. Starting in the sixties, when she defined the Golden Age of Soul, her highly personal gospel-inspired sound brought her status as one of the Greats of American Music.

She has won virtually every award there is to win, scoring dozens of smash hits, and a truckload of Grammys and Lifetime Achievement Awards. She is the youngest recipient in the history of the Kennedy Center Honors, as well as the first woman elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

But it's not the legendary icon who greets you at Vanguard Studios in Detroit; this isn't the fabled diva or hallowed Queen. This is simply Aretha, real and ready to sing. She's here to complete a vocal for one of the songs from A Rose Is Still A Rose, Never Leave You Again, and, in between work sessions, is delighted to discuss her new record.

Her dress is sporty, her style all-the-way relaxed. A hip jogging-suit and sequined baseball cap, sneakers and cool tinted glasses. "My working outfit," she explains. "I've come to sing."

And sing she does. The effortlessness with which she soars over Puffy Combs' smooth track has you shaking your head with wonder. In the vocal booth, eyes squeezed tight, she reaches the heavens. Before scattering a few bars in the bridge, she discusses the nature of scat singing. "There are others who do this better than me," she declares. Minutes later, though, she proves herself wrong. Her scat solo is a gem of sweet soul-jazz-imaginative, whimsical and wholly satisfying.

"This is one of those contemporary songs relative to today," she explains during a break. "I like a lyric that's saying, 'The hunter gets captured by the game' I also like the idea of a woman saying things to a man that, at a different time, only a man would say to a woman. I like this new attitude."

As the session ends, as Aretha says her goodbyes and heads to her limo, her new songs stay on your mind. Her voice stays in your head. Her voice, one of the glories of American culture, conveys, as the poet once put it, all "the achingjoys and dizzy raptures" of romantic love.

Through the miracle of melody, her gift is renewed on what many are already calling a masterpiece.

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