Donny Hathaway Live

One of my favourite albums of all time, a true masterpiece, an album that moves me every time I listen to it – and simply one of my most-loved, most played records – is Live by Donny Hathaway.

I got hooked on the album many years back – a favourite across formats (LP, tape, CD, iPod) – I’m onto my second LP-copy of the album; the original record I had was scratched and though some of the pops and clicks were, well, endearing – it wasn’t long before it became frustrating, unlistenable.

The record features performances from two live sets, side one was recorded at The Troubadour in Hollywood and side two’s material comes from The Bitter End in New York. So it feels right to listen to it on vinyl – flip it to hear the different sets/bands. For the Hollywood-recorded material Phil Upchurch is the guitarist. In New York it was Cornell Dupree; both wonderful R’n’B guitarists with a touch that is subtle, encompassing jazz, funk, blues and rock.

The rhythm section is sublime; Willie Weeks (bass) provides a solo during Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything) that has become a favourite for bassists; a touchstone, an inspiration. Fred White (drums) and Earl DeRouen (conga) keep the groove rolling and flowing. Mike Howard’s rhythm guitar is crucial also. The songs seem to have no beginning and no end as such – it’s almost as if we are eavesdropping in on a performance (which is actually pretty accurate, given it’s a live album and we’re the audience of a recording from another time, another place). These songs seem to just evolve, rolling through in to place without ever being completely pinned down. It’s an incredible band performance (or band performances, given there is a change in the line-up and this album comes from two different venues).

Across the eight songs there are feel-good glimpses and stop-you-in-your-tracks moments; sometimes within the same piece – there are perfect cover-versions and stunning original tunes. The dynamics of the live band could (should) be studied by anyone wanting to make music as either a hobby and/or a career. It’s perfect playing – similar in that sense to the great Bill Withers album, Live At Carnegie Hall (also a must-hear/must-have).

From there the sound – the vibe – of this album has infiltrated so many live-performance albums, from George Benson’s Weekend In L.A. to Erykah Badu’s Live. And Hathaway’s soulfully laid-back version of jazzified funk feels right as the correct criterion to measure anything up against – it’s a tough yardstick, most definitely, but it is also most assuredly and assiduously a blueprint. A gold standard.

Here on this record Hathaway takes on powerful songs by Marvin Gaye and John Lennon that were essentially brand new at the time. But the album-opening cover of What’s Goin’ On has its own sound; it’s no trace-around of Marvin’s buzz. And the soul-drenched Hathaway remake of Jealous Guy is my favourite version of the song – no cash-in tribute like Roxy Music; Donny did it at the time, right after the song was recorded; he wanted to do the right thing and pay tribute to the song).

If Weeks gets his chance to shine in one of the album’s two long tracks, then The Ghetto gives space for percussionist DeRouen to dominate; his solo providing punctuation to the effortless band-churn that the song had been riding on – it might never have stopped otherwise.

Hey Girl is the bridge between The Ghetto and another poignant cover –You’ve Got A Friend. There’s audience frenzy building as side one comes to a close.

Little Ghetto Boy kicks off side two and you can hear how Donny took something from Stevie Wonder and then passed on so much to George Benson – from there we roll on into We’re Still Friends, a ballad that has the audience caught, listening, held by Hathaway having his way with the song – and there’s some great lines from Cornell Dupree. There was a touch of Curtis Mayfield to his guitar playing and the very early Jimi Hendrix-as-sideman sound. And before Willie Weeks has his moment on the final track, Voices Inside, Dupree chews out some more guitar-funk, grimy R’n’B licks that pinch out blues and jazz; it’s lead playing without being spotlight-stealing. All of the players sit inside the collective groove.

It’s a magical album – one of my all time favourites. If there was no YouTube, no Spotify, no internet access to music (making it so easy – and allowing me now to share the album with you in bite-sized sample pieces and below as a whole) and if I had to shrink my collection of music down to just what I could carry with me I would take this album. Always. Because as much as it is a journey through groove, through a beautiful sound – that feels seamless on side one then starts up again on side two and rolls through – it’s also a huge emotional journey. The music is beautiful, but there’s a sadness, a darkness to so much of it also.

Hathaway’s short musical career only offered us a handful of studio albums, some winning duets with Roberta Flack and the two great live albums (this one of course and one released posthumously).

So there’s much pathos within the groove/s on (and of) this album; just a few years after it Hathaway’s body was found on the sidewalk outside his 15th-floor hotel room. He had removed the glass and jumped; his death ruled a suicide. There were voices in his head (Voices Inside), he suffered from depression and paranoid schizophrenia (Everything Is Everything) – it gives some of the song selections on this album a whole new meaning. Well, I choose to hear them as powerful statements that both propel against and feed into the struggle that was his life.

And I hear this album and think of the samples that have appeared in modern R’n’B and hip-hop, of how it is so much the blueprint for many serious modern soul sounds and how it is not only a stunning band-effort but a showcase for one of music’s greatest voices; one of my all-time favourite singers.

It’s simply one of the finest records in my collection – a special album, one that has a huge effect every time I hear it. And one that was always in the DJ crate; great album to ‘play out’ as they say, great album to introduce visitors to at home. Hathaway never over-sings – but he never crumbles, he not only carries the emotional weight of each song in some cases he adds to it with his performance.

He was an incredible musician (arranger, composer, singer, accompanist, duet-partner, covers-act). And what an amazing band, or bands – he was also an inspired bandleader. It's impossible for me to listen to this and not get choked up at the loss; thinking about how in more modern times he might have had more support, a better understanding of his mental illness and greater coping strategies, medication, and care. So that’s all in there for me when I listen to it too.

But I can think of no finer album for a retro-recommendation. It’s 50 years old. It is utterly timeless.

I hope some of you reading will be now hearing this music for the first time. Or maybe just the first time in a while. Either way, what an enormous treat.

And then of course for something different from Donny, I have the regular Friday playlist. So have at that also. Volume 87 of A Little Something For The Weekend…Sounds Good!

And it’s a long weekend in New Zealand – so that’s going to sound even better. Happy Monday public holiday. I’ll hit your inboxes with a newsletter on your day off no doubt.

All best and love to you and yours. Look after each other. Thanks for reading. And cheers to the listening!