Goodbye, Dearest Aretha

August 16 was not a fortuitous day for American "royalty." I refer to the "Sultan of Swat" Babe Ruth, the original "King of Rock and Roll" Elvis Presley," and the one and only "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin. All three died on August 16. And when they did, the nation grieved.

I grieve now for Aretha. I knew she was dying, but when she finally passed Thursday from pancreatic cancer, I read the effusive tributes to her greatness while listening to some of her finest performances, and tears welled in my eyes. Was I really crying for her, or was I crying for the loss of a dazzling force of nature's vibrant constancy throughout most of my life?

It's not that, as a young white boy growing up in the suburbs and as a young and not-so-young man fixated on instrumental jazz and jazz-rock fusion for decades, I always appreciated Aretha's greatness as much as it richly deserved to be. I heard and liked many of her songs on the radio over the years, but I didn't attend any of her concerts or buy any of her albums. I knew she was revered and believed she deserved to be, but my reverence for her was superficially felt. Still, she was always a vital part of my culture and, therefore, a part of me.

Yet, around ten or so years ago after I began watching "American Idol" with my wife, I started paying more attention to male and female vocals and vocalists. And only after I'd been doing that a while did my appreciation of the greatest of the great vocalists swell to unadorned adoration of the singer Rolling Stone magazine ranked in 2010 as the greatest singer of all time. I'm no music expert, but I've never heard anyone who could convey so much powerful emotion with such heartfelt mastery, or seen anyone do it with such sublime regality as Aretha did. This astonishing performance when she was 73 years old says everything more that needs to be said about Aretha Franklin and will remain indelibly etched in my mind forever.

Thank you, Aretha Frankin, for being such an enduring part of the soundtrack of my life and for doing it your way!

Two Great Singers, One Great Song

I have always cared more for instrumental music than for vocals. This became especially true after I discovered the Mahavishnu Orchestra in the early 70's. But after watching American Idol with my wife for the past two seasons, I find myself paying more attention to vocals. Not so much the vocals of so-called "American Idols" as those of truly great singers.

I believe that two of the greatest singers I have ever heard are Aaron Neville and Aretha Franklin. I had heard Aaron Neville for years but never paid much attention to him until I saw a late night commercial for his greatest hits album and heard portions of some of the songs adorning it. When I later heard his full version of Amazing Grace, I was overwhelmed.

I have always loved this song even though I am not Christian. It reaches into my heart and soul like perhaps no other song. But Neville's angelic voice takes it to another level of sheer transcendence. I have read that when Neville performs this song in concert, he touches his audiences so deeply that he leaves most of them in tears. I can understand why. Here is a YouTube clip of him singing it, and here is an excerpt of Aretha Franklin giving a very different but enrapturing rendition of it.

After watching some of Aretha's performances on YouTube and hearing them on Rhapsody, I now understand why she's the "Queen of Soul" and a force of nature with that miraculously powerful and inspiring voice of hers. And after seeing Neville perform a devastatingly poignant version of Randy Newman's Louisiana 1927 on an NBC benefit concert in the summer of 2005 for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, he became my favorite singer of all.