Great Music ... Where It All Begins!

I love great music. 

This love began the day I was born.  According to my Mother, I should not have developed into a music enthusiast.  While she was pregnant with me, she had very strict rules regarding music.  My Dad couldn’t play it in the car, and there was no stereo time in the house.  My love for music was nourished by my Father’s love and determination.

For as long as I can remember, I was surrounded with R&B classics, jazz, blues, gospel, and funk.  If he owned, I listened to it, and loved it.  He has taught me that you music allows you the freedom to lose awareness of space and time, and drift into another dimension.  Just as Charlie was surrounded by luscious molten rivers and sugar fields in the Chocolate Factory, great music envelopes me in a warm blanket of notes, rifts, and beats.

Last night, I was honored to experience the genius that is Lalah Hathaway live and in person.  Of all the concerts I have gone to, this performance definitely landed in my top three.  No opening act, or fillers during the show.  I cried twice, cheered until I thought I was going to lose my voice, and prayed the night would never end.  Just Lalah, her two phenomenal back ground singers, and a band that that was beyond extraordinary.  In fact, to call them background singers is unfair.  I have never before seen an artist give their background singers and band as much recognition and space to perform as Lalah gave hers.  I felt the concert was a fun collaboration of three singers and four instrumentalists, instead of the usual headliner who stands in front of the stage, and hogs the microphone and spotlight for herself. 

In case you didn’t know, Lalah is the daughter of the incomparable Donny Hathaway.  In a short amount of time, Donny developed many timeless and passionate classics that connect with all generations.  My favorites are the masterpieces “A Song for You” and “For All We Know”.  My best description would not do the songs justice.   This might sound weird, but I love when you can feel an artist’s pain and trials in a song.  For me, these characteristics show the humanity and sincerity in the artist’s lyrics.  This cannot be produced using sound machines or synthesizers.  You either have the gift, or you don’t.  True musical talent is raw and untarnished.  It is God’s blessing in its purist form.  I believe that if you listen closely to Donny’s music, you can hear his cries to God.  His pleas for peace and love that transcended the schizophrenia that plagued his mind.  You hear his soul.

This attribute is one he passed on to his daughter, Lalah.  The sincerity in her music is refreshing and unique.  Even though her first album was released in 1990, her sound maintains the ability to breath life into every nook and crevice in the reach of her voice.  I first fell in love with Lalah Hathaway when I heard her song “Forever, For Always, For Love”.  I am a sentimental romantic.  The naive part of me wants to believe that love is everlasting and can withstand the turbulence of life.  This song found the dreamer in me, and was eternally nestled in my heart.  My favorite part of the song says:

“I’d be a fool to ever change,

If he says he loves the way I am.

I’d be a fool to ever change.  

If he says he loves the way I am. 

It’s gonna be starting here, starting now.

Forever, for always, for love.”

I can only hope that when I meet that special someone, it is just that.  Forever.  For always.  For Love.

Lalah was knighted the First Daughter of Soul for a reason.  I’m sure it’s not easy when your father had an unequivocal voice that was admired, loved, and revered by so many.  With humility and grace, she surpasses all expectations and takes you on her own personal journey.  This is apparent in her renditions of “For All We Know” and “A Song for You”.  If you close your eyes, you feel like you have a direct line to Heaven to talk to those you have loved and lost.  Perhaps she is talking to her father, as she effortlessly sings and respects every note of the songs.     

The perfect album to use as an Intro to Lalah is her newest CD, Where It All Begins, which was released in October.  A few of my favorites are “Small of My Back,” “Lie to Me,” and “If You Want To.”  I believe the upbeat tempo of many of the songs is a good way to ease into the mastermind that is Lalah Hathaway.

As the one and only Rachelle Ferrell said, “Her voice is like rich, melted, organic chocolate.” 

I love chocolate.  I love music.  I love Lalah Hathaway.

Photo is courtesy of Google.