As a budding Jazz musician, my freshman year in high school coincided with a brief renaissance in jazz as a popular music form. Maynard Ferguson's version of "Gonna Fly Now" topped the charts, "Feel's So Good" introduced Mom & Pop America to the flugelhorn, and Bob James scored with "Theme from 'Taxi'. Right smack in the middle of this, Stevie Wonder's joyful tribute to the jazz era of the 30s & 40s, "Sir Duke", saturated the radio waves.
It was the second No. 1 hit off the remarkable album "Songs in the Key of Life" (1), the album Stevie brought to life at the Scottrade Center Sunday night.
Backed by an 18-piece band (by my count) that included six back-up singers as well as long-time Wonder bassist Nathan Watts who appeared on the original album, Wonder led the crowd through the epic double album and the EP that was released with it in 1976, "A Something's Extra", with a few side trips along the way.
Starting a little late, Wonder was led out on stage and spoke to the audience before playing, dedicating the night to those "who have lost loved ones in Ferguson" (2) and two brothers he had met that had lost their mother the day before. He introduced the leaders of his rhythm section, the conductor of the local eight piece string section (3), and bassist Watts, then found his way to the center stage keyboard/piano set-up and launched into the introductory "Love's in Need of Love Today".
No dancing and little stage visuals (but perfect sound), the night was about the music, the message, and the mastery of an album from the prime of a master songwriter's career. Sticking to album order for the most part, Wonder took a detour to highlight his singers, letting them strut their stuff on snippets of tunes as diverse as "Summertime" and "Besame Mucho". The first set ended with "Saturn" and "Ebony Eyes" from the EP appended to "Ordinary Pain", the closer from Side 2.
After a brief intermission, Wonder took the stage to tell a little backstory about the song that kicks off Side 3, "Isn't She Lovely", written for his (as-yet-unborn) daughter Aisha Morris. Wonder joked that had she been a boy, the song would have been, "Isn't He Ugly". It's Aisha's crying you hear on the album and, as it turns out, she had just had her own baby girl the night before.
One of his backup singers, Jasmine, joined him out front as they moved into the final side for "Ngiculela - Es Una Historia - I Am Singing". Wonder then slipped in the final two cuts from the EP including a harmonica/harmonica/sax trio on "Easy Goin' Evening" that featured an extended harmonica solo from Wonder that culminated in the "Star-Spangled Banner". Wonder continued to exhibit his instrumental prowess with a medley of "Yesterday" and "People Get Ready" on the keyboard-like string instrument, the harpejji. (4)
Despite doing this song every night on tour, Wonder was visibly choked up as he sang along to the original backing track on "If It's Magic" by harpist Dorothy Ashby, who died from cancer shortly after the album was recorded. A portrait of Ashby with her harp graced the background. The tears kept coming as the two D'Angelo brothers mentioned in the night's dedication came on stage while the band played "As" and added some touching words while thanking Stevie. "Another Star" finished the album.
Forgoing the pantomime of leaving the stage prior to an encore, Wonder opted for the gimmick of drinking a bottle that would turn him into "DJ Tick Tick Boom", replete with sound effects. Transformation complete, the band was joined by St. Louis's own Nelly, awe-struck and grinning ear-to-ear to be playing with Stevie Wonder, for a brief version of "Hot in Herre", a couple newer R&B snippets, a bit of "Do I Do" and, finally, "Superstition" to close the show around midnight.
Other than the excellent musicianship, two things jumped out at me from the night. The first, I expected. Wonder's voice - both his physical and his creative voices - hold up extremely well over the nearly 40 years. 26 when he recorded the album (5), at 65 he effortlessly worked his way through the album. The only time (aside from when he was emotionally choked up) I heard even the slightest searching was at the beginning of "Summer Soft" (let's hear you sing that coming off of "Pastime Paradise").
Thematically, the album stands the test of time: tell me with the internet, smartphones, YouTube, Facebook, etc., that we're not living in a "Pastime Paradise" more now than ever. And though you can argue about the degree, "Village Ghetto Land" and "Black Man" are as apt today as 1976. The album casts its vision across 80-plus years in reaching back to 'the shoulders of giants' with "Sir Duke" and forward to today.
The unexpected touch, for me, was how much, despite playing to a hockey arena, despite the mega-stardom, he genuinely wants a connection with his audience. I've heard other musicians describe how hard it is to get in touch with Stevie Wonder: he has concentric rings of gatekeepers to keep the public (and the industry) at bay. If he didn't, he'd spend all his time being adored by fans or beseeched by lesser talents. But despite that, he exhibited a respect for his audience, a desire to be understood, a generosity that let him share the stage with a family mourning their mother, and a positive energy through his music, words, and presence that touched everyone in the building and left everyone happier than when they came. (6)
(1) "Songs in the Key of Life" won Album of the Year at the 1977 Grammys - Wonder's third such award in four years. Paul Simon, winner for "Still Crazy After All These Years" in 1976, thanked Wonder during the Grammys ceremony for not releasing an album in 1975. Wonder accepted the award via a poor satellite hook-up from Nigeria that was not working well on his end - prompting the classic gaffe from Andy Williams: "Stevie, can you see us?"
(2) Appeals to love and unity continued throughout the night, most notably late in the second set when Wonder reminded the audience "All Lives Matter" and that as "the first humans were from Africa, we all have a little Black in us."
(3) A local choir of about a dozen voices rounded out the musical personnel for the night.
(4) Yeah. I had no idea what it was either. Thanks, Pat Carr, for tracking this down for me.
(5) His eighteenth! At age 26.
(6) Except maybe the disappointed fellow who wrote into the Post-Dispatch complaining he "didn't hear enough hits". I guess he either didn't read his ticket or thought "I Just Called to Say I Love You" was on "Songs in the Key of Life".
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