Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts tagged as “Aretha Franklin”

REVIEW: “Respect” Offers Moving Insight and Homage to Aretha Franklin’s Faith, Artistry and Legacy

REVIEW: “Respect” Offers Moving Insight and Homage to Aretha Franklin’s Faith, Artistry and Legacy

By goodblacknews on August 13, 2021

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Well, Aretha stans, the movie moment we’ve long been waiting for is finally –FINALLY– here. Today, just three days shy of the third anniversary of her passing, the MGM feature film about the one and only Queen of Soul, Respect, hits theaters nationwide.

As Editor-in-Chief of Good Black News (and not-so-undercover Aretha Franklin freak), I was able to attend a press screening of the movie a few weeks ago, as well as interview its writer Tracey Scott Wilson (The Americans) and original score composer Kris Bowers (The United States vs. Billie Holiday, Space Jam: A New Legacy, King Richard).

Directed by Tony Award nominee Liesl Tommy from a screenplay by Emmy Award nominee Wilson and starring Academy Award-winning vocal powerhouse Jennifer Hudson (who also executive produced), Respect is a treasure not only because it is a film about a Black woman made by Black women, but also because it satisfies on every level — visually, musically, and dramatically.

“Liesl wanted this to be a movie about and for and with and celebrating Black women because that’s what Aretha did her entire life,” writer Wilson said. “That was one of her missions in life, to honor Black women and put them front and center.”

The biopic covers a span of approximately 20 years in Franklin’s life, from her youthful choir solo singing in her father’s church to recording and producing Amazing Grace, a live double album of gospel music in the church of early teacher and friend Rev. James Cleveland (warmly and lovingly portrayed by Tituss Burgess).

Jennifer Hudson stars as Aretha Franklin and Forest Whitaker as her father C.L. Franklin in
RESPECT (Photo credit: Quantrell D. Colbert)

Performances across the board are top notch – Hudson not only understood the assignment, she embodied it and transcended it by capturing Aretha’s quiet and graceful exterior while navigating how to express the caldron of explosive feeling and creativity within.

Forest Whitaker‘s note-perfect performance as Aretha’s formidable, flawed, savvy and controlling preacher father C.L. Franklin again proves why he is a lauded master of the craft.

As Aretha’s first husband and manager Ted White, Marlon Wayans charms with his nuanced combination of sexiness, intelligence and manipulation that make the dynamic of White and Franklin’s relationship live so well in the gray areas of both real and fatal attraction, especially when it gets violent.

Although they had limited screen time, Audra McDonald has so much gravity and grace as Aretha’s mother Barbara Franklin, she is broken spirit personified and Mary J. Blige pops off the screen as Aretha’s mentor/menace/musical motivator Dinah Washington.

Actor Jennifer Hudson and director Liesl Tommy on the set of
RESPECT (Photo credit: Quantrell D. Colbert)

Tommy’s direction is as subtle as it is rich and powerful — the movie doesn’t feel like a movie if you know what I mean — but like an inside look into a lived experience. Franklin remains a mystery in many ways, which I found to be an insightful nod to Aretha’s own choice and agency to fiercely protect and guard her interior life.

Tommy and Wilson take what is known about the relationships and traumas in Franklin’s life and, like Franklin, let their fullest expression explode like dynamite through the music.

The way the music is presented within the storytelling (not to mention Hudson’s astounding vocals), from the expected highs like “Respect” or the emotional, fractured rehearsal of “Precious Memories,” is ambrosia for the ears, heart and soul.

The creation of “Ain’t No Way” in the movie plays as a grand glimpse into Aretha’s musicality and artistry as well as her connection with her sisters Erma and Carolyn (younger sister Carolyn Franklin wrote the song and is teaching it to Aretha in the scene) and this pivotal moment is a stand out.

According to Wilson, not only is that song a favorite of director Tommy, it also pays homage to rarely seen ABC news documentary footage of the same:

“It’s just them in rehearsal, and it’s Carolyn teaching her the song that she wrote. I must have watched that video like 100 times. Just seeing the dynamic between them — Ted White is standing there, the Muscle Shoals guys are standing there — and she’s just teaching her this song,” Wilson said.

“And Carolyn could read music and Aretha couldn’t, so she’s speaking to her not only in a way musically that Aretha can understand but she’s also speaking to her as a sister. And just seeing that I knew it had to be in the movie because it so encapsulates their relationship so well, it captures Carolyn’s brilliance, it captures their sisterly camaraderie and love, and also the dynamic of Ted who’s there who is clearly becoming just an appendage and not the main attraction anymore.”

Underpinning the emotional storytelling of Aretha’s narrative is the impactful and moving score, which composer Bowers, who was befriended by Aretha in 2011 when he won the prestigious Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition, crafted with thoughtful intention and care:

“Liesl had in mind that the score was going to handle a lot of her trauma in the story and that was going to be the focal point of the score. And the other thing that I started to feel was revealing itself in the story… is how much she’s finding her way back to God and her faith and church and also in a lot of ways this pure connection she had with her mother.”

The score itself, Bowers said, was loosely inspired by the sound of the church, which, as Aretha’s life and career highs and lows unfold, is calling her back to it.

“A lot of the textures are organ sounds… and I just kind of stretched them out and did different things to them to create more of a texture and layers on top of the score.”

“The theme itself not only was meant to feel somewhat like a hymn but her trauma theme is actually her mother’s theme in reverse. A lot of [the score] is trying to find ways to create some sort of throughline to that so it can continue to pull her toward that calling of God and her faith.”

As a bonus, the film’s final moments close with the actual footage of Aretha’s unparalleled Kennedy Center Honors performance of “Natural Woman” from 2015. It’s such an outstanding narrative choice, it brought tears to the eyes of this Aretha devotee.

Although the film passes quickly through Aretha’s Columbia records output and ends well before her transition to her Clive Davis and Arista years, it’s an impressive exploration of, to paraphrase Wilson, “the woman with the greatest voice in the world finding her own voice.”

_________________________________________________________________

FROM METRO GOLDWYN MAYER PICTURES, IN ASSOCIATION WITH BRON CREATIVE AND ONE COMMUNITY

RESPECT, in theaters nationwide August 13, rated PG-13

DIRECTOR: Liesl Tommy

SCREENPLAY BY: Tracey Scott Wilson

STORY BY: Callie Khouri and Tracey Scott Wilson

CAST: Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Marc Maron, Tituss Burgess, Kimberly Scott, Saycon Sengbloh, Hailey Kilgore, Heather Headley, Skye Dakota Turner, Tate Donovan and Mary J. Blige

PRODUCERS: Harvey Mason Jr., Scott Bernstein, p.g.a., Jonathan Glickman, Stacey Sher

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Jennifer Hudson, Liesl Tommy, Sue Baden-Powell, Aaron L. Gilbert, Jason Cloth

“Lift Every Voice And Sing”: James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson’s Anthem to Freedom (LISTEN)

“Lift Every Voice And Sing”: James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson’s Anthem to Freedom (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on July 4, 2021

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

James Weldon Johnson,  an NAACP field secretary, civil rights activist, Broadway composer and professor who investigated and spoke out about lynchings in the first decades of the 20th century, also wrote the classic novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, first published in 1912.

But perhaps the publication Weldon is best known for was that of a song he wrote with his brother John Rosamond Johnson. In 1900, in honor of Tuskegee Institute founder Booker T. Washington as part of a tribute to Abraham Lincoln‘s birthday, they crafted a poem that was read by 500 schoolchildren entitled “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

The poem celebrated freedom as it recognized a brutal past never to be repeated. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was so well received that the brothers set it to music and by 1919 the NAACP dubbed it “the Negro national anthem.” It has functioned in that capacity ever since.

The Johnson brothers pictured on the cover of this 1973 version of the sheet music

Sung for decades at countless meetings, events, and ceremonies, a 1990 version of the song performed by Melba Moore (which can be heard here on GBN’s “Black Americana” playlist ) was entered into the Congressional Record and, in 2016, into the National Recording Registry.

Singing this song today makes as much sense as any other American anthem, as it is a song of independence from tyranny, inhumanity and injustice. It is sung in honor of Americans who died building this country by progeny who seek to embrace the liberty, hope and prosperity freedom promises.

Enjoy Aretha Franklin, whose voice literally was designated an American natural resource, singing the song we might all lift our voices to sing. Full lyrics published below.

GBN Video of the Week: First-Look Featurette on Aretha Franklin Biopic “Respect” Starring Jennifer Hudson (WATCH)

GBN Video of the Week: First-Look Featurette on Aretha Franklin Biopic “Respect” Starring Jennifer Hudson (WATCH)

By goodblacknews on June 22, 2021

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

It’s no secret that I’m a die-hard Aretha Franklin stan. Have almost all the records, read all the books, seen all the documentaries, the concert film, watched the limited series, made several Spotify playlists (because one will never ever be enough).

So it should be no surprise the wait for the MGM feature Respect starring Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson, delayed from release last year due to the pandemic, has been a long one for me. And from the looks of this featurette, it will have been well worth it:

This featurette excites me not only for the music and what look to be great performances from Hudson, Mary J. Blige as Dinah Washington and Forest Whitaker as Aretha’s father, Reverend C.L. Franklin, but also because of what director Liesl Tommy and screenwriter Tracey Scott Wilson say in it about their approach to the film.

How does the woman with “the voice” find her voice? Knowing that the filmmakers focused on dramatizing Aretha’s artistic journey and how she “musicalized her lived experience,” makes me feel like Respect will be The One.

It also helps greatly to know Franklin’s family supports the movie – her cousin Brenda Franklin-Corbett, who sang backing vocals for Aretha, even appears in the featurette.

Respect will be released in theaters on August 13.

And… bonus…

“Here I Am,” an original song recorded by Hudson for the film, recently became available on several streaming platforms, including Spotify. Check it out!

Katori Hall, Les Payne and Tamara Payne, Darnella Frazier, Wesley Morris and More Win Pulitzer Prizes in 2021

Katori Hall, Les Payne and Tamara Payne, Darnella Frazier, Wesley Morris and More Win Pulitzer Prizes in 2021

By goodblacknews on June 11, 2021

Mitchell S. Jackson’s winning essay from June 2020, Twelve Minutes and a Life, offered a deeply affecting account of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery that combined vivid writing, thorough reporting and personal experience to shed light on systemic racism in America.

A formerly incarcerated person, Jackson is also a social justice advocate who engages in outreach in prisons and youth facilities in the United States and abroad.

Georgetown University professor Marcia Chatelain’s Franchise offers a nuanced account of the complicated role the fast-food industry plays in African-American communities, a portrait of race and capitalism that masterfully illustrates how the fight for civil rights has been intertwined with the fate of Black businesses.

Hall’s Hot Wing King is a deeply felt consideration of Black masculinity and how it is perceived, filtered through the experiences of a loving gay couple and their extended family as they prepare for a culinary competition.

Tania Leon’s Stride premiered at David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City on February 13, 2020, a musical journey full of surprise, with powerful brass and rhythmic motifs that incorporate Black music traditions from the US and the Caribbean into a Western orchestral fabric.

To see the complete list of 2021 Pulitzer Prize recipients and more details about them, click here.

[Photo collage: top l-r are Darnella Frazier, Wesley Morris, Tania León; bottom l-r are Katori Hall, Michael Paul Williams, Marcia Chatelain via pulitzer.org]

(paid links)

“How I Got Over”: Celebrating Aretha Franklin with Comprehensive Playlist of Her Cover Songs on Her Birthday (LISTEN)

“How I Got Over”: Celebrating Aretha Franklin with Comprehensive Playlist of Her Cover Songs on Her Birthday (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 25, 2021

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

It’s always nice to have an excuse to celebrate the Queen of Soul and her music. Although this week in particular it’s been a somewhat fraught proposition, as the National Geographic Channel began airing its Genius: Aretha series starring Cynthia Erivo on Sunday, to which some of Franklin’s immediate family publicly objected.

But if, like me, you’re inclined to want to celebrate Aretha on what would have been her 79th birthday and can’t wait for the MGM feature Respect starring Jennifer Hudson (which, so far, the family does approve of) to come out, you can always rewatch the glorious Amazing Grace concert film released in 2019, or go right to the source and listen to all Aretha all day.

For my 2020 celebration, I compiled a collection of her original works in a Spotify playlist called  “Rock Steady”: Songs Aretha Franklin Wrote, in honor of her ability to compose incredible music and lyrics that have stood the test of time, a talent which is often overshadowed by Aretha’s unparalleled singing mastery.

This year, I chose to celebrate Aretha Franklin’s lifelong love of all musical styles and her unmatched ability to turn any song from any genre from any time by anybody into her own unique moment. Below is the compilation playlist “How I Got Over”: Aretha Franklin’s Cover Songs: 

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:1ThrnFZemc4yzpq8cMEQPe”]

In it, you’ll find the songs you already know were recorded by others that Aretha made her own signature songs (“Respect,” “Spanish Harlem,” “Until You Come Back to Me”), along with songs where her version became as famous as the original, if not more (“You’re All I Need To Get By,” “I Say A Little Prayer,” “Wholy Holy,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Don’t Play That Song,” “Son of A Preacher Man”).

Also included are songs you may not know she covered (many were deep cuts on LPs or only recently released) but as soon as you hear Aretha’s version you won’t be able to forget it (“At Last,” “A Change Is Gonna Come,” “A Song For You,” “What a Fool Believes,” “I Want to Be With You,” “My Kind of Town (Detroit Is)”).

Aretha also dips into her Detroit roots with her covers of Motown classics like “My Guy,” “Tracks of My Tears” and “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” as well as her love of her British Invasion contemporaries with covers of The Beatles‘ “Eleanor Rigby,” “Let It Be” and “The Long and Winding Road” and The Rolling Stones‘ “Satisfaction” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”

Franklin effortlessly shows off her jazz chops on “Moody’s Mood,” “Skylark,” “How Glad I Am” and “Crazy He Calls Me” and her devastating blues acumen and feeling with “Today I Sing The Blues,” “The Thrill is Gone,” “Night Time Is The Right Time” and “Why I Sing The Blues.”

“Over The Rainbow,” “Somewhere” and “I Dreamed A Dream” let us all know a career on Broadway or movie musicals, should she have wanted it, would have been Aretha’s for the taking, and her takes on traditional gospel classics like “How I Got Over,” “What a Friend We Have In Jesus,” “Oh Happy Day” (with Mavis Staples), and, of course, “Amazing Grace” make it simple for anyone needing proof of God to listen and say, “Oh, okay. THAT.”

For those who love holiday fare, Aretha’s got that covered too, with undeniable versions of “Winter Wonderland,” “Silent Night” and “The Christmas Song.”

As late as 2014, at age 72, Aretha Franklin was still showing the world what she could do to a song she deigned to sing.

Franklin released an entire album of covers entitled Aretha Franklin Sings The Great Diva Classics, where she famously took on “Rolling In The Deep” by Adele, Alicia Keys‘ “No One” and created must-listen mash-up versions of Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman/Respect” where Aretha blends those two classics together, and Gloria Gaynor‘s “I Will Survive,” which she mixes with Destiny’s Child‘s “Survivor.” 

All the songs mentioned and more are on the 85-track playlist above. There are even more enticing covers in the Aretha Franklin catalogue worth exploring, but at five and a half hours, I definitely feel this playlist is a great place to start. 

Enjoy, and all hail the Queen!

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas” (VIDEO)

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas” (VIDEO)

By goodblacknews on December 25, 2020

Donny Hathaway‘s recording of “This Christmas” is a holiday staple on Black radio and in Black households, and we are honored to celebrate its 50th anniversary today.

It’s difficult to remember a time when “This Christmas” wasn’t a popular seasonal tune, but when the song was released on December 9, 1970, the single failed to register on the R&B and Pop charts and didn’t get much airplay.

Decades later, however, Hathaway’s vision for African American representation in modern Christmas music shone through.

Co-written with Nadine McKinnor, Hathaway’s celebration of the season grew in popularity thanks to a 1990s re-release and covers by the likes of Aretha Franklin, Alexander O’Neal, Ne-Yo, The Braxtons, Seal, Mary J. Blige, Patti LaBelle, Destiny’s Child, and Pentatonix.

Preston Whitmore‘s 2007 film This Christmas starring Loretta Devine, Regina King, Delroy Lindo and Chris Brown (who also recorded the title track) helped maintain the popularity of the song.

Today, “This Christmas” has since become one of the most-performed holiday songs of all time, and in honor of its golden anniversary, Rhino Records released the animated video above drawn by famed cartoonist Lonnie Milsap for all to enjoy.

MUSIC MONDAY: “Across 110th Street” – Celebrating the Sounds of Bobby Womack (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Across 110th Street” – Celebrating the Sounds of Bobby Womack (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on November 30, 2020

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Happy Monday, you all. Hope you had a good and safe Thanksgiving. Time will tell though.

While most of these offerings are genre and theme-based, I do like to feature a favorite, and often underrated, artist from time to time. This week, it’s Bobby Womack.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:4XR72fdlZHr9V0uql6hHSe”/]

While never a household name, Womack had a long and impactful career. He, like so many in his generation, started in a family gospel group with his brothers.

Womack became the protégé of gospel and R&B/pop star Sam Cooke, a session musician, a successful solo artist with decades of hits, a writer of his own and others’ songs, and along with Mos Def, and surviving members of The Clash, was a core member of Gorillaz.

Quincy Jones arguably stands alone in having a longer and more wide-ranging career. 10-year-old Bobby started touring with his brothers on the midwest gospel circuit as The Womack Brothers.

MUSIC: “That’s The Way Love Goes” – End of Summer Celebration of ’90s Slow Jams (LISTEN)

MUSIC: “That’s The Way Love Goes” – End of Summer Celebration of ’90s Slow Jams (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on September 4, 2020

by Jeff Meier (FB: Jeff.Meier.90)

As we head into Labor Day Weekend, the unofficial end of Summer, it’s one more chance to relax a little amidst such a stressful year for so many of us.

We’ve had such a great reaction here at Good Black News to so many of our Spotify playlists, including our decade-spanning slow jam playlists that we made for the ‘70s (Ultimate ‘70s Slow Jam Summer) and the ‘80s (Ultimate ‘80s Champagne Slow Jams).

So it only made sense, in time for the long weekend, to unveil our playlist of slow jam faves from the ‘90s – entitled Ultimate ‘90s Sunset Slow Jams, available at this link here, and of course you can listen to or access below. All you ‘90s soul music fans, it’s time to favorite this playlist and represent!

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:43oaIWo1oj8UlZSqX3Oix1″/]

R&B music in the ‘90s underwent a true sea change that had been slowly building up through the prior decade. If ‘80s slow jams were the sound of lushly-produced, upscale elegance via superstar duets from well-dressed veteran singers, the ‘90s tossed a lot of that in the rearview mirror. 

MUSIC: “Grown Folks Vacation” – Smooth Jazz Covers of Classic Soul and Soft Rock by Shanachie Records Artists (LISTEN)

MUSIC: “Grown Folks Vacation” – Smooth Jazz Covers of Classic Soul and Soft Rock by Shanachie Records Artists (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on August 15, 2020

by Jeff Meier (FB: Jeff.Meier.90)

It’s the middle of August and five months into the coronavirus pandemic – is anyone longing for that summer jazzfest they haven’t been able to attend?

With today’s GBN playlist, which we’ve dubbed “Grown Folks Vacation,” you can press play, imagine yourself slipping into your backyard hammock with a glass of wine, and let a wave of classic songs and sounds wash over you (with a twist) – hopefully getting a little bit of relaxation in these stressful times.

Today, we’re celebrating music coming from the independent New Jersey-based label Shanachie Records, which, for more than 20 years, has been keeping veteran artists and favorite songs alive after many major labels have passed them by.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:1PVRxN4SRARXXd140YFK5u”/]

Shanachie was born in the 1980s as a niche independent label focusing on Celtic, folk, reggae and other branches of world music that the big companies usually ignore. But by the late ’90s, with expansion of the Quiet Storm and Wave radio formats, Shanachie expanded into a new area of music with releases from smooth jazz saxophonists like Walter Beasley and Kim Waters.

“Amazing Grace”: Playlist in Honor of Civil Rights Heroes John Lewis and Rev. C.T. Vivian (LISTEN)

“Amazing Grace”: Playlist in Honor of Civil Rights Heroes John Lewis and Rev. C.T. Vivian (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on July 18, 2020

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

With the passing of two Civil Rights Movement titans, the Reverend C.T. Vivian and Rep. John Lewis, I was inclined to honor them with a playlist.

After some poking around, I read that Rep. Lewis was a big fan of Aretha Franklin and saw her sing more times than he could count.

As a teenager, Franklin traveled the country on tour with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse Jackson and Harry Belafonte. As she became a musical icon, lending her voice in support of equal rights, Franklin was present with Lewis and Vivian, in person or in song, for some of the Civil Rights Movement’s most pivotal moments.

John Lewis and C.T. Vivian (photo: Getty Images)

“If it hadn’t been for Aretha — and others, but particularly Aretha — the Civil Rights Movement would have been a bird without wings,” Lewis said. “She lifted us and she inspired us.”

Here is a playlist featuring her and other artists who lent their voices to the struggle.

As always, stay safe, sane, and kind.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:35W6wbr2umUcRcaY1UdeC5″/]

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)