Sunday Sermonette

And now, a word from Lady Tramaine Hawkins -- the first vocalist I ever made a deliberate effort to imitate, ever.  She's a real powerhouse.

While she was in high school, she was a member of The Heavenly Tones which eventually became  Little Sister, the four member group that sang backups for Sly and The Family Stone -- on recordings and in concert.  Lady Tramaine eventually married Walter Hawkins and was lead vocalist with his Love Center Choir for years. That album Love Alive! is a basic and simply shimmers with empassioned brilliance. It's the perfect synthesis of soul, funk and traditional gospel. 

How interesting that Lady Tramaine, the Hawkins brothers and Sylvester Stewart were walking down the same (gospel) path, more or less...

changed

when i was a child, tremaine hawkins' voice was absolutely everywhere. she was married to one of the hawkins' brothers, sang with the LOVE Alive choir and was (and still is, some years later) a powerhouse of a performer. i remember wishing that i could sing like her. many an afternoon found me sitting and listening and imitating what i heard but that wasn't really what i wanted. i was drawn to the overwhelming passion in her delivery, but i knew that there was more than feelings involved. i knew how to sing, and i knew how to sing with feeling and i knew that i didn't have what she had. so the differentiation between feeling and that something else was understood.

if all of that weren't enough, it was the 70s. the radio was filled with people singing with feeling. the television was filled with variety shows that would have entire segments devoted to these "singing with feeling" people, strumming their guitars and their lutes and whatever else they could caress sincerely, staring glassy-eyed beyond the camera, to something that was beyond any of us. there was even a hit song at the time, called (appropriately enough) feelings. nothing could get more touchy-feely than that. and yet as time went on, that's exactly what happened. but i digress.

sitting in the living room, playing tremaine's songs over and over and over again, singing them to myself, watching the mac davis (a texan, by the way -- remember that huuuuge elvis presley song in the ghetto? yeah, well, mac wrote it...) show on tv, hearing david soul (another actor who was really a singer) on the mike douglas show singing don't give up on us -- nobody had to tell me. i knew. this woman's voice was something that was touched by the divine. mrs. hawkins was anointed. in retrospect, what i wanted was to sing with that anointing. i was raised COGIC and so i understood very well that i couldn't will my voice into such a state. it was simply the presence of God resting upon her soul.

of the hawkins brothers, walter had his brilliant moments with the LOVE Alive choir and many great songs but it was edwin who revolutionized gospel music with his rearrangement of the 17/18th century hymn oh happy day -- with full choir and a conga back beat, no less. (you don't even want to know what the original sounds like.) these were the same hawkins brothers who hung out with andrae crouch and his twin sister sandra as kids. much like the stewarts, who also lived in the bay area, sang gospel with their mother as the stewart four and whose son sylvester would break away from his gospel-soaked upbringing, delve into secular music and change the world, too.

and you know who recorded with them, sang with them, and attended bishop walter hawkins' church up until he died? that's right. sylvester.

interestingly, they were all COGIC.

in the same way that i tilt my head and look at people differently when they tell me that of course they're musically sophisitcated, of course they love jazz but they don't like ornette, i have to wonder about musicians who love sly stone (a texan, by the way) and who don't "get" his gospel roots, or know who andrae crouch is.

this song still resonates, still transcends, after all this time. she's an old lady and her voice is as clear as a bell and she's still on fire.

...and yes. this song is just the tip of the iceberg.

okay, this is more like it...

i understand why this music -- and sly stone in particular -- is so mindblowing, especially now. so many teens and twenty-somethings have absolutely no idea who he is. my cousin still thinks he's that freak that outfreaked everyone at the grammys. when i played this song for her and told her that it's where janet jackson got her song rhythm nation, she actually got interested.

playing an instrument in the wonderful world of r&b isn't as commonplace as it used to be. and neither is songwriting. or singing. or performing without being surrounded by what visually amounts to a mini las vegas floor show. if an r&b act has a band, it's a gimmick, a novelty item. it isn't par for the course. can you really do r&b nowadays if you don't have a stylist?

what are we expecting when we go to see a show? the majesty of rock? the mystery of roll? what is r&b, anyway? is it "urban"? is it hip-hop incognegro? is it black pop music? so many producer-driven hybrids, so little time.

one thing is for sure. unless more of us start taking the time to learn how to play and develop our own ideas, r&b by whatever name you call it will continue to eat itself -- head first.

there is much to be learned from the past, and knowing your rock and roll history as a musician is always a good idea. that's why videos like these matter so much. i love this one -- the feel of it, the way it shows the stage turning and opening up to the audience, what their gear looks like, how enthusiastic everyone is. the band is so in sync with each other, and the music sounds as good as the best of anything that's out right now.