BWW Reviews: Marian Anderson Awards Concert for Berry Gordy Kimmel Center

On November 19, at Philadelphia's KimMel Center, Philadelphia, the Motor City, and Broadway celebrated the life and work of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy as he was presented with the 15th Marian Anderson Award. The Award, the conception of then-Philadelphia mayor, former Governor of Pennsylvania Edward Rendell, is presented annually to a prominent artist whose artistic or other work has contributed significantly to society or to urgent causes. Prior recipients have included Elizabeth Taylor, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Norman Lear, and Harry Belafonte. The award is named for African-American contralto (very likely the finest contralto of the 20th Century) Marian Anderson, a Philadelphia resident, who was famously denied the right to perform at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC in 1939 because of her race. Miss Anderson's Easter concert that year, performed at the government's invitation at the Lincoln Memorial, drew 75,000 people and was nationally broadcast, reaching millions more than her intended performance would have.

Gordy's tribute concert was interspersed with videos of his career, of Rendell's founding of the Awards, and of the young artists of all backgrounds who are supported by grants made possible by the Marian Anderson Awards. Master of ceremonies for the evening was comedian Chris Tucker. Tucker, who noted immediately that "Philadelphia is a music town", presented a lineup of Motown and other artists, many from Philadelphia or with Philadelphia connections, who performed and shared stories of Gordy's impact on their lives and their work. Artists performing and speaking in Berry's honor included Philadelphia native, recording artist and Broadway performer (THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS, THE LION KING) Cody Wise; the bands Kool & the Gang and Philadelphian Motown recording artists Boyz II Men; Brandon Vincent Dixon, currently playing Gordy on Broadway in MOTOWN: THE MUSICAL; songsmiths and creators of the Philadelphia Sound, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff; and legendary performer and Motown artist Smokey Robinson. Music direction for the evening was by triple Emmy winner, composer/keyboardist Bill Jolly.

Wise kicked off the music for the evening with a medley of Gordy hits including the first great Motown hit, "Money (That's What I Want)" and "You've Made Me So Very Happy". Wise's performance owed more than a touch to some of the great jazz vocalists such as Sarah Vaughan as well as to the great Motown groups of the 1960's and 1970's. As he noted to the audience, "I wouldn't be here without the music of Motown."

Of Boyz II Men, Tucker noted that "they're part of Motown history, but they're rooted in Philadelphia." The group performed "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday", "Water Runs Dry," and "End of the Road" to a highly receptive hometown audience. The group's tribute to Gordy included their proclamation of him, perhaps rightly, as "the most important name in music."

Brandon Victor Dixon, on the other hand, proclaimed to Gordy that "It's been an honor... showing you on a nightly basis [on stage in MOTOWN: THE MUSICAL] how much better-looking than you I am." After that dubious tribute, Dixon performed "Can I Close the Door", one of the new songs composed for MOTOWN: THE MUSICAL. A slower ballad, it doesn't feel as traditionally Motown as the Motown numbers in the musical, but following Boyz II Men, the choice was sound.

A non-musical tribute was provided by Gamble and Huff, songwriters and founders of Philadelphia International Records, whose association with Gordy and Motown is lengthy. They thanked Gordy for "allowing Gamble and Huff to have a couple of songs go through." They are, of course, responsible for just a few still-popular R&B and soul recordings, including "Me and Mrs. Jones", "If You Don't Know Me By Now", "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", and, noteworthy for the evening, "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)", which became the theme to television's "Soul Train." After telling the story of Marian Anderson to the audience, Gamble told the crowd that "Motown taught Gamble and Huff to overcome obstacles, to make a way out of no way," and that "there would be no Gamble and Huff if there was no Berry Gordy and Motown."

Kool & the Gang followed, shifting the mood to the disco side of Motown, with their classics, "Ladies Night", "Get Down On It", and the mandatory-for-the-mood-of-the-evening "Celebration", all of which had members of the audience on their feet, dancing at their seats. Age has not diminished the power either of their songs or of their live performance.

In the tradition of saving the best for last, Smokey Robinson followed at the end, after Kool & the Gang. Of Gordy, Robinson noted, "He's my mentor. It is because of him I became a professional songwriter." That comment followed in the vein of the entire evening, that every performer on stage, as well as many others both famous and unknown, have involved themselves in music because Berry Gordy and Motown made it possible for them. "I am so proud to have been with this man, and to share this dream all over the world." Robinson then explained that he had written a song for Gordy: "I call this song 'Berry's Theme,' because it's about our love for each other." Robinson performed it a cappella, at the podium, as he had recently at the first Grammy Museum Gala the previous week in Los Angeles. The clearly heartfelt lyrics include "Did you know all the joy you'd be bringing? Did you know you'd be the songs the whole world is singing?" They are words that certainly describe Gordy's, and Motown's, effect on America and the world since one day in Detroit in 1959.

Photo credits: David Ickes, John McGinnis Jr.

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