In a season overflowing with holiday releases by pop favorites like Hanson, RuPaul and Puff Daddy & The Family, it’s refreshing to see some of the legends who started the old soul and rock ‘n’ roll craze get a piece of the action.
R&B heartthrob D’Angelo’s parents probably weren’t even born when Jerry “The Iceman” Butler — the definition of cool — launched his singing career in the ’50s. Next year marks the 40th anniversary of the native Chicagoan’s recording debut with the Impressions, a group Butler started with another legendary Chicagoan, Curtis Mayfield, a childhood friend.
Blessed with a rich, creamy smooth baritone, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Butler headlined an all-star Christmas showcase, “Street Carols: A Christmas from the Roots of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” on Sunday at the Star Plaza Theatre.
Though he only performed one holiday tune, “Little Red Shoes,” complemented by the robust and youthful voices of the Emerson School for the Performing Arts Choir from Gary, Ind., Butler’s good spirits came out in all of his numbers.
Accompanied by an eight-piece band, including two dynamite backup singers, Butler’s voice rang loud and clear as he crooned about lost and renewed loves. As his songs wore on, his voice got grittier, bluesier. It shook with passion and pain. He gripped the microphone stand like a stubborn lover and wailed, “. . . that’s what love will do,” on “He Will Break Your Heart.”
The holiday lineup also included ’50s and ’60s favorites The Chi-Lites, Skyliners and Fleetwoods, who shoo-wopped and doo-wopped in lively, feel-good, clap-along ditties. Songs like “Have You Seen Her,” “Pennies from Heaven” and “Mr. Blue” brought back many a memory for some.
But the highlight of the show was the performance by Legacy — a group made up of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Bil Pinkney, an original Drifter; Hank Ballard of The Midnighters (who originated “The Twist”); Pookie Hudson of the Spaniels (“Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight”); and The Skyliners’ Jimmy Beaumont (“This I Swear”) — who sang “Christmas isn’t Christmas (Without You)” in one of the best collaborations ever. Pinkney and Hudson’s basement baritones, Ballard’s charisma and Beaumont’s falsetto delivered a memorable and powerful performance. And although all of these artists are in their mid-60s to early 70s, they still sounded like they were in their prime.
If you’ve any room left in your heart at all for Christmas albums, “Street Carols: A Christmas from the Roots of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” featuring some of the greatest rock ‘n’ rollers ever, is a definite best buy.
