Aretha Franklin, the long-reigning Queen of Soul, is a benevolent and generous monarch. On top of every other accolade that's been laid at her feet over the last half-century, a prestigious collective of musicians, writers and music industry heavyweights just placed her at the top of Rolling Stone magazine's ranking of the 100 greatest singers of all time.
Another singer might have incorporated that bit of news into her introduction. Or she could have humbly basked in the ovation it surely would have generated had she mentioned it Saturday during the second of two nights at the House of Blues in West Hollywood.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, November 27, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 61 words Type of Material: Correction
Aretha Franklin: A review in Monday's Calendar section of Aretha Franklin's concert at the House of Blues in West Hollywood stated that her appearance in February at the Nokia Theatre had been her first in Los Angeles in 15 years. She performed at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City in 2005 and at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles in 2004.
Instead, she launched this rare Southland club appearance with a tacit salute to a few of the other estimable voices in pop music, opening with Jackie Wilson's "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher." She subsequently offered up Curtis Mayfield's exquisite "Something He Can Feel" and her signature version of Otis Redding's "Respect" and then saluted rock and funk pioneer Sly Stone with a medley of "I Want to Take You Higher" and "Dance to the Music." But just like so many geopolitical monarchs, whatever she touched became her own.
Scholars and barflies will happily continue to debate whether Franklin is "better" than Elvis, whether Ray Charles should only have finished at No. 2 and why the heck Louis Armstrong didn't even make the list -- it's all academic. By any measure, Franklin, 66, is simply one of the treasures of our age.
The impetus for the club stint was the recent release of her first album of holiday music, and for the occasion she jammed an orchestra of about 15 instrumentalists plus four backup singers onto the tight House of Blues stage for her scintillating 90-minute set.
She dipped into the Christmas collection for the contemporary standard "My Grown-Up Christmas List," which presented a challenge even to the Queen of Soul to overcome its inherently maudlin sentimentality. More on target were an intriguing soul arrangement of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" (sung inexplicably over a recorded backing track) and the straight gospel song "One Night With the King."
It created an odd juxtaposition with the secular material and her otherwise lighthearted banter, including some mildly bawdy repartee with fans who packed every square inch of standing room. She also took a moment to thank the sweat-soaked crowd for indulging her refusal to allow air-conditioning during performances because it dries out vocal cords.
