How the Queen of Soul and the King of Sax Changed Rock Forever

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It's pretty much a given that you can't really love rock and roll without at least having a fundamental appreciation of soul--the roots of both are inextricably entwined. Still, throughout the 1950's and well into the sixties, the two traversed largely parallel paths. There were the rock charts and there were the R&B charts-- crossover hits were extremely rare on either side.

Blame it on record label marketing, not any kind of veiled racism. Bean counters have never been renowned as visionaries.

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Three nights in March 1971, at Bill Graham's Filmore West, made them open their eyes, though. San Francisco's famed venue played host to Aretha Franklin, backed by King Curtis and the Kingpins for three straight shows (March 5-7). The lines between rock and soul would be forever blurred.

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Two CDs from Rhino, appropriately titled Aretha Live at Filmore West and King Curtis Live at the Filmore West document those events in digitally remastered recordings so crisp the listener is aurally transported to those concerts. This is Aretha at her apex, belting out gospel-infused soul in her inimitable style. This is King Curtis, playing sax and fronting his dream team version of the Kingpins, as if there were no tomorrow.

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Aretha was already acknowledged as the "Queen of Soul", due in no small part to Jerry Wexler's tutelage since signing with Atlantic in 1966. King Curtis had a resume dating back to the fifties, and his sax stylings largely defined the instrument's role in in rock and roll. He was a musician's musician, though, and at that time, not a name generally equated with the rock scene. And while Aretha was an international star, most of the buzz surrounding her was generated from the R&B press.

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So it was with some trepidation that Wexler brought Aretha and King to the Filmore West. By his own account, he wasn't sure how an audience accustomed to acts like the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane would respond to what amounted to an all-out soul revue.

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He needn't have worried.

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Aretha Live at Filmore West hits the ground running with a revved-up performance of "Respect" and Lady Soul's promise to the largely "hippie" audience that they will "enjoy this performance as much as any you have had the occasion to see." She makes good on that guarantee, and then some, with her take on "Love the One You're With," as different from the Steven Stills original as midnight is to dawn. Aretha's greatest strength lies in her ability to completely redefine source material, and nowhere is that more apparent than her renditions of "Eleanor Rigby" and "Bridge Over Troubled Waters." Those two covers define the phrase, "it's not so much what you say as how you say it." And how she says it sends a shiver up the spine and a gut shot to the soul.

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But where Aretha Live at Filmore West shines most brightly is when she unabashedly returns to her gospel/blues roots--and it is here that she ultimately holds the audience captive. "Dr. Feelgood" begins as an earthy, blues-infused tune that stretches into an all-out revival for over four minutes, with the audience caught up in the spirit, "amen-ing" her every utterance. As it segues into "Spirit in the Dark," Aretha holds the crowd utterly under her sway. Like an A.M.E. preacher, she takes utmost advantage of the opportunity, unexpectedly bringing "the righteous reverend" Ray Charles to the stage to reprise the song. A spontaneous jam, the likes of which had never been heard, ensues. The electricity in that performance ranks as one of those "great moments" in the evolution of rock and roll.

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Aretha Live at Filmore West is an indispensable album for anybody remotely interested in the evolution of rock and roll, soul or pop music in general. This edition also includes outtakes and alternative mixes culled from those three nights, not included in previous issues of the album. This isn't just pop music history. It is soul at its very best.

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If Aretha's performances at the Filmore dispelled any doubts that soul could play to rock audiences, then a huge credit is due to her band, led by King Curtis. Besides providing an amazing backing to Aretha's vocals, he and his Kingpins served as her opening act. King Curtis Live at the Filmore West is a testament to the power inherent in unspoken vocabulary of instrumental music.

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Here, he augments the Kingpins with special guests Billy Preston and the legendary Memphis Horns. The resultant album is extraordinary, to put it mildly. Culled from the three nights performances, the tracks are nothing short of exhilarating. King Curtis was the greatest of rock and roll's saxmen, and he aptly demonstrates his talents here. From the classic "Soul Serenade" to his rendition of Procol Harem's "Whiter Shade of Pale," his tenor sax phrasings never falter. Even on "Whole Lotta Lovin" (an obvious choice for the flower child crowd) , his instrument takes on a voice of its own.

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There is an unintentional melancholy to this album. I mentioned at the beginning of this piece that King Curtis played as if there was no tomorrow. Sadly, for him there were very few tomorrows after this performance. King Curtis was stabbed to death five months later. His legend lives on.

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Aretha Live at Filmore West and King Curtis Live at the Filmore West are two albums that beautifully document a time when rock and soul were finally coming to grips that they shared the same lineage. The music that would follow relishes in that new-found identity to this day.