Reviewed Friday 2nd August, 2013
Vika Bull and a seven piece group, billed as The Essential R&B Band, present a musical documentary of the life of the late Etta James, one of the most important names in Rhythm and Blues, and perhaps also the most tragic. Born JamesEtta Hawkins in 1938, in the middle of the Great Depression, to a 14 year old mother, Dorothy Hawkins, whose life had already gone off the rails, was a tough start to life. She died five days before her birthday in 2012, having been suffering from dementia, Hepatitis C, and the leukaemia from which she died.
At the age of five she was singing gospel in her church, at twelve she formed a trio, and at sixteen she was making her first recording,
Wallflower, better known as
Roll With Me, Henry, changing her name to
Etta James at the same time. Her long career was under way. Unfortunately, it was also a life filled with drugs, prison, and a good many bad people, along with the good times on stage and in the recording studio.
At Last - The Etta James Story, the good times and the bad, is told by Vika Bull and Tibor Gyapjas, who also plays trumpet and flugelhorn. The script, by John Livings, is the weak point in this production, sounding a little like a selection of snippets from a website such as Wikipedia. There are dates, places, and people, and a good many references to her self-destructive lifestyle, but we do not really feel that we know the woman any better at the end than we did at the beginning. There were also some technical difficulties, mostly with missed lighting cues, but not enough to spoil the evening.
Musically, however, this production has everything going for it. Musical director, John McAll, who plays piano and keyboards, has assembled a great band, with Gyapjas, Eric Budd on trombone, Chris Bekker on bass,
John Watson on drums, Dion Hirini on guitars, and Anton Delecca on tenor and baritone saxophones.
Vika Bull has been captivated by the songs of
Etta James for most of her life, listening to them as an eighteen year old, and attempting to sing them as Etta did. Her love of
Etta James and her music was obvious in Vika Bull's performance. She captured so much of Etta's style and phrasing, but still gave us a lot of herself. It was a performance full of energy, enthusiasm and, in some of the more poignant numbers, plenty of emotional connection. There was no denying the conviction in Bull's performance and the connection that she makes with the musicians, combining heir efforts to present so many of Etta's best known numbers, as well as a couple that are less familiar.
Etta took in numerous genres in her vast repertoire, so some slow blues, some gospel, or a touch of jazz, popped up here and there amidst the driving R&B songs in this performance, giving some great variety.
At Last was there, naturally, along with such numbers as
Tell Mama,
Sugar on the Floor,
W O M A N,
It's a Man's Man's Man's World,
I'd Rather Go Blind,
The Very Thought of You, and lots more, every one generating huge applause. The end of the evening brought a standing ovation, an encore, and another standing ovation, all well deserved.
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