Music Matters
Singer's singer Lalah Hathaway has lots of stories to share with her music
Chicago born Lalah Hathaway is a singer’s singer, a musician’s musician, an artist who like her father, the late great Donny Hathaway, is both a great interpreter of song and a gifted songwriter. A friend of mine, a fine jazz and funk guitarist based in Minneapolis, hipped me to her music after we’d had some conversation about the great bassist Marcus Miller with whom Hathaway has toured. Their version of the classic “Killing Me Softly” – easily found on the ubiquitous YouTube – knocked me out and I’m embarrassed that I hadn’t heard her music before.
Hathaway’s 1990 self-titled debut contained three hit singles, but from there she followed a self-defined musical path leading to collaborations with pianist and former resident of Houston’s Fifth Ward Joe Sample for their 1999 album The Song Lives On and saxophonist Kirk Whalum (also a former Houstonian) with whom she recorded the Grammy award winning song “It’s What I Do” heard on Whalum’s expansive concept album The Gospel According To Jazz Chapter III.
Blues and gospel music clearly comes out of a release for an oppressed people. I really think country and western music served the same purpose. These were true stories, told by Americans.
Her 2008 album Self-Portrait draws upon contemporary and old school R&B and may be the place to start for those wondering what her show Saturday at the Arena Theatre will sound like. But then again, Hathaway’s art is not about staying in one place for too long or making concessions to the marketplace. She’s a music lovers musician, and she has many stories to tell.
CultureMap: You’ve described soul music as being “very much the story of blacks in America…” but that “the story right now is a bit skewed…” Can you speak to that a little bit? Do you believe music that is “telling the story” is somehow harder to hear for the overwhelming marketing of music that’s designed for pre-teens or post adolescent clubbing and celebrating excess?
Lalah Hathaway: The art of story telling in America itself seems a bit skewed. As we get media and info faster and faster and from more and more sources, ironically the window itself seems to narrow. I think a lot of people are just looking for a more even playing field. The music that really sticks to me tells me a story — either lyrically or musically — that I can relate to. There is an element of truth.
CM: When did your formal musical education begin? Were you studying with a teacher before you began your studies at Berklee College of Music?
LH: My actual formal education of music began officially in the early '70s. I studied piano at the American Conservatory of Music. As the child of two musicians (Donny and wife Eulaulah Hathaway) there was never actually a start date. It was always the natural trajectory of my life. I attended The Academy of Performing Arts High School in Chicago as well.
CM: Is there a consistent thread you can speak of that connects gospel music with soul and then with bluegrass or country and western music?
LH: I believe the thread is the poor or working class American. We know that the blues and gospel music clearly comes out of a release for an oppressed people. I really think country and western music served the same purpose. Again, these were true stories, told by Americans.
Lalah Hathaway and Noel Gourdin play Houston's Arena Theatre Saturday at 7 p.m.
See and hear Lalah Hathaway sing "Killing me Softly":
