They Feel The Earth Move
R&B Craftsmen Reinterpret Earth, Wind & Fire Classics

Rhythm & BIues
- GAIL MITCHELL gmitchell@billboard.com
From Billboard Magazine

Memphis is the birthplace of two legends: Earth, Wind & Fire founder Maurice White and pioneering soul label Stax Records. So it’s fitting that White’s latest project, “Interpretations,” doubles as the liftoff for the reactivated label.

Now under the Concord Music Group banner, Stax is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Picking up a soul legacy that includes Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding and Sam & Dave, the label is gearing upfora slate of upcoming releases by first signing Angie Stone and prodigal son Hayes. First up, however, is “Interpretations,” a covers album celebrating the music of Earth, Wind & Fire (March27).

Stone is among the select group of singers reinterpreting 10 of EWF’s most memorable songs. Her rendition of “Be Ever Wonderful” leads an eclectic lineup that includes Me’Shell Ndegeocello (“Fantasy”), Chaka Khan (“Shining Star”), Dwele (“That’s the Way of the World”), Lalah Hathaway (“Love’s Holiday”). Ledisi (“Devotion”), Mint Condition (‘After the Love Is Gone”), Musiq (“Reasons”) and the Randy Watson Experience featuring Bilal (“Can’t Hide Love”). Kirk Franklin’s revamping of “September” is the project’s first single.

This contingent’s stylistic diversity—plus the enduring popularity of the EWF catalog—is what White deems will make this album stand out among the existing slew of covers counterparts. “It’s just a matter of how much people are into the songs,” says the soft-spoken White, who attended grade school with another Stax alumnus, musician Booker T. Jones. “In this case, I think that is what will ignite this whole thing.”

Indeed, unlike other covers albums that fall just this side of Muzak, “Interpretations” possesses an in-your-face, no-holds- barred vibe that infuses a renewed vibrancy. Khan’s funked-up take is a standout, as is Ndegeocello’s turn.

White and Herb Trawick, his partner in Kalimba Entertainment, first approached Concord with the concept about four years ago at the start of the covers wave But the pair became sidetracked by another Kalimba venture, the Broadway musical “Hot Feet,” which also incorporated signature EWF music (Billboard, July 29,2005). Having shut down the play last August, Kalimba is now
entertaining a film option.

Circling back around to “Interpretations,” White and Trawick revised the original concept.

“The initial response we received for the project came from major pop and R&B acts,” Trawick recounts. “But when the Stax notion was introduced, the concept evolved. We wanted roots- based singers who could organically interpret these songs. This was more a question of how to honor the music versus doing something for blockbuster reasons.”

Trawick and Stax VP of A&R Collin Stanback drew up a wish list of artists for White’s approval. Beyond that, White says he didn’t want to step on the artists’ creative inspirations as they recorded the songs they chose. “If I’d been on site, I would have been making suggestions,” White says with a laugh. “I wanted to alleviate all that!’

“You’re stepping into a dangerous zone when you try to re-create something that’s basically a masterpiece,” says Stanback, who reviewed each recreation with White. “But we gave people thefreedom to own the songs in their way and still respect the EWF legacy”

White and Franklin begin shooting a video for “September” next week. To what extent White will be hitting the promotion and performing routes on behalf of “Interpretations” is still in the planning stages, as are other future Kalimba/Concord ventures. But one project in the discussion stages is a new album by White.

“I’d like to do more complicated music, like jazz,” says White, who early on played drums for Ramsey Lewis. “I’d like to recapture where I came from.”