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"Living Legend"
Etta James & the Roots Band / Joe Louis Walker
Saturday, March 10 • 8pm
$82
$62
$47
$37
$25
“Ms. James seems an eternal fixture in the pop firmament.” – The New York Times
Program Notes
Over her 50-year career Etta James has been lauded and laureled with three Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Award, as well as membership in both the Blues and Rock & Roll Halls of Fame. But with legends like Etta James, accomplishments and awards hardly tell the story. Only the tremendous legacy of her music and life can convey what this distinctive artist brings every time she takes the stage.
Tonight's performance is something of a homecoming for James. She was living in San Francisco when Johnny Otis discovered her teenage vocal group in the ’50s. Young Etta jetted off to Los Angeles to record her first hit "The Wallflower (Dance With Me, Henry).” During her fifteen-year affiliation with Chess Records James ran a gamut of styles: duets with then-husband Harold Fuqua; the lush, bittersweet pop balladry of "At Last"; and the hard-driving Muscle Shoals soul of Tell Mama. Whatever tune James blessed with her "sexy, brash, and streetwise" (The New York Times) voice, it immediately became her own.
James’ latest album, All The Way, focuses on modern pop songcraft, from Prince's ballad “Purple Rain" to the blue-eyed soul of Simply Red's "Holding Back the Years.” And James has reason to be particularly proud of this latest release, as it is the first album that she can truly call her own. “For the first time in my fifty-three years of recording, I really had control over an entire album, start to finish," she said. Produced by her sons Donto and Sametto (both players in the Roots Band) and longtime musical associate Josh Sklair, the album, like tonight’s concert, is a definitive statement by a living legend.
Joining Etta this evening is Joe Louis Walker, a San Francisco–born and based blues legend of international renown, and a veteran of both the 1960s and ’80s Bay Area blues explosions. Walker’s gospel-tinged vocals, a remnant of his days with the gospel group the Spiritual Corinthians, and stinging guitar have earned him and his Bosstalkers band a devoted following.
Personnel:
Etta James & the Roots Band
- Etta James, vocals
- Donto James, drums, percussion
- Sametto James, bass
- Bobby Murray, guitar
- Josh Sklair, guitar
- Dave Mathews, keyboards
- Ronnie Buttacavoli, trumpet
- Tom Poole, trumpet
- Kraig Kilby, trombone
Joe Louis Walker
- Joe Louis Walker, guitar and vocals
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