Mavis Staples may be seventy years old but this soul and gospel icon, who also happens to be an inductee to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, still has it all going on. This is her fifty ninth year in the business and the fact she blew into San Diego for two nights at Anthology on dates that coincided with the birthday of Martin Luther King made this, for her, a very personal performance. After opening the set with Stephen Still’s ‘For What Its Worth’ (which was a hit for the Staples Singers as far back as 1967) she asked the audience to respect the victims of Haiti with a few seconds silence before sharing with them some of her memories of being on the road with the Staple Singers and of meeting Dr King along the way.
Mavis came to Anthology with a message of hope and the music of inspiration that, given the power of its delivery, was almost tangible. Of course there appeared to be few ‘born again’ Christians in the crowd and the way expensive wine flowed like rivers made it unlikely that many were there to be converted. However, this not withstanding, her potently soulful music found huge favor throughout.
Mixing her gospel passion with soul from the heart, and during a set that lasted around seventy five minutes, she was grandly supported by vocals from Donny Gerrard, Chavonne Morris and Yvonne Staples. Not only that, with the tight instrumental backing of Stephen Hodges on drums, Jeff Turmes on bass and, most notably, Rick Holstrom on guitar the quality of the music remained, for the whole time, consistently high. In fact, for a fifteen minute break during which Mavis took an off stage rest, Holstrom, Turmes and Hodge provided an instrumental interlude that proved to be as delightful as it was varied. However the show was all about the legend that is Mavis Staples and she did a particularly good job with her hearty rendition of the classic ‘Wade In The Water’. Equally pleasing was her take on another Staples Singers blockbuster, The Bands ‘The Weight’, and talking of Staples Singers hits she reserved the best to the very last. Although her turbocharged rendering of ‘Respect Yourself’ seemed unbeatable she topped it and then some by the magnificent play out tune ‘I’ll Take You There’ that brought the audience to its feet.
As time goes on the opportunities to observe the very best of what, for R & B, was a golden age become ever more limited. As such Mavis Staples at Anthology was a show to be remembered and, more than that, cherished.
