MUSIC

The Grand 1894 Opera House presents Gladys Knight in Concert, Sunday, February 20, 2011 at 5pm.

One of the most instantly recognizable and loved voices in popular music, Gladys Knight makes her first appearance at The Grand! You won’t want to miss this evening, which celebrates her latest CD, Before Me — a heart-felt salute to the great performers who greatly influenced her career: Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Sammy Davis, Jr.

The lady who can plumb misty watercolor depths of emotion from any lucky song she chooses to sing shifts her focus to gems from the golden era of song on her Verve Records debut, Before Me. In Before Me, Gladys Knight focuses on the classics that inspired her. This album is nothing less than a landmark recording for Ms. Knight, offering a lingering look into the very fabric of her being.

Before Me features pieces from performers that set the pace for Ms. Knight to be a part of the industry including: Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Sammie Davis Jr. More than iconic figures, those influential artists were people Gladys Knight encountered and with whom she interacted with on her career path, a path that started at the impressionable age of four.

Though the jazz slant of Before Me is a far cry from Ms. Knight’s soul-pop smashes “Midnight Train to Georgia,” “If I Were Your Woman,” “Love Overboard” and the often covered “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye),” it is one that actually stretches back to the early days of her career as well as the origin of this very special CD. Ms. Knight came to the Verve Music Group to record Before Me; the legendary jazz label is home to a wealth of distinguished recordings by Sarah, Dinah, and Nina. Fittingly, producers LiPuma and Ramone have surrounded Knight with the cream of the jazz universe, including arrangers Billy Childs and John Clayton, plus musicians such as saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman, keyboardist Joe Sample, trumpeters Roy Hargrove and Chris Botti, and guitarists Russell Malone and Anthony Wilson and The Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.

Ms. Knight selected twelve songs that truly touched her including: “Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me,” “The Man I Love,” “Good Morning Heartache,” “Since I Fell For You,” “God Bless the Child,” “This Bitter Earth,” “I Got It Bad (And It Ain’t Good),” “Someone To Watch Over Me,” “But Not For Me,” “I’ll Be Seeing you,” “Stormy Weather,” and “Come Sunday.” Knight works wonders with these well-worn classics, leading one to ponder her method for getting “inside” of a lyric. “First of all,” she explains, “I want to know what the content is. I cannot do a song that I don't believe in or that goes against my character. Then I listen for how the melodies lie with the lyric. If a melody stirs me in my heart spiritually, then I'm ready to go with it.”

As powerful as the songs themselves were, it was the ladies who originally sang them who provided the most bottomless well of inspiration for Knight through the making of Before Me. Knight had personal encounters with almost all of them, beginning with Ms. Lena Horne. “From day one I remember my mom talking about being classy with good character and morals . . . the presentation of who you are. Lena epitomized that for me.” Gladys had a powerful yet quite different meeting with the great Dinah Washington. “I heard her before I saw her with that big booming voice . . . and she was ‘gettin' somebody told!’ I said, ‘Who is that lady?’ They said Dinah Washington and I went, ‘Oooo!!’ I was afraid of that woman! But we were all in awe.”

Not long after, young Gladys also encountered “Sassy” Sarah Vaughan. “We were just coming off of (the nationally televised) Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour when we saw her play at a club in Atlanta. She was standing elegantly at the mic singing "My Funny Valentine" wearing an off-the-shoulder dress in red and white satin with hearts all over and a little train. I'll never forget it.” The one great that Gladys did not meet in her lifetime was Billie Holiday, to whom she pays homage in three numbers on Before Me. “Billie was such a stylist,” Knight reflects. “Nobody does a song like ‘Lady Day.’ She had the most unique voice.” Saving the best for last, Ms. Knight waxes absolutely reverential in memory of her friend Ella Fitzgerald. “She was my favorite,” Knight begins. “Not just for her music, but as a human being. She was the sweetest, most humble lady. If I wanted to be like anybody, it was her”

Gladys Knight has held fast to her passion for music. “I love anything that gets me to the people. I love being a part of their lives, helping them musically express themselves, to be uplifted . . . whatever they need.” That artistic fulfillment can be found in Ms. Knight’s latest one from the heart, Before Me. “This album is a labor of love for so many people,” she concludes, “for my son Jimmy Newman, Jr. who, before he died, was fighting for the opportunity for me to have this type of creative freedom. I dedicate this to people like Lloyd Terry, Cholly Atkins and, most of all, my mom. If I do say so myself, Before Me is the best music I've ever done on record.