In some respects, it’s hard to believe that Chaka Khan has been on the music scene for 50 years. Her brimming smile, long curly locks, soaring high notes, and endless swagger belie the fact that she turned 71 this past March. But between her time leading Rufus and her own stellar solo career, the “Queen of Funk” has, in fact, been a fixture of pop culture for half a century. That longevity makes a lot more sense when considering the indelible impact she’s had on music history.
Chaka’s legendary legacy and multitude of musical influences were all on brilliant display during her recent 50th anniversary celebration at the Hollywood Bowl. The night began with an all-around entertaining opening set by Masego. The Jamaican singer and musician warmed up the Los Angeles crowd on a cozy July Friday night with jokes, props, and, of course, plenty of great music, including both his smooth vocals and scintillating saxophone work on his hit song “Tadow”.
Once Masego was done dancing, tossing fake money into the crowd, and singing about yams, Chaka sauntered onto the stage, to the accompaniment of conductor Thomas Wilkins and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. The Chicago native split her portion of the proceedings into two distinct acts. The first half was a songbook set, consisting mostly of tracks from her 2004 album with the London Symphony Orchestra, entitled ClassiKhan. A number of those—including “Big Spender”, “My Funny Valentine”, and the themes to the James Bond films Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever—were offered up as odes to British vocalist Shirley Bassey.
Chaka also took the opportunity to dedicate her rendition of the theme from the 1967 Sidney Poitier-led film To Sir, With Love to her father, Charles. She even gave a nod to Nashville with the Willie Nelson-penned song “Crazy” that Patsy Cline popularized in the early 1960s.
Amid all those covers, as well as some high notes nailed during Jeremy Lubbock’s “How Many Lives to Go”, Chaka managed to sneak in one of her own creations with “I Believe”. She admitted she not only had not played the song in a while, but had almost forgotten she’d written it.
After a brief break, Chaka came back out, having shed both her voluminous dress and the services of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Instead, she emerged with her own band, ready to dive into her hits, following a video montage showing notable figures like Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Grace Jones, Michelle Obama, and the late Prince and Whitney Houston singing Chaka’s praises.
With that, she promptly declared that “This Is My Night” with the lead track off her 1984 album I Feel For You. Chaka followed that up with a slew of songs celebrating her time with Rufus. To open that portion, she welcomed Tony Maiden, who sang and played guitar in Rufus, to perform “Do You Love What You Feel” with her and her band. For Tony, it was both a heartwarming reunion and a triumphant return to the stage, following a seven-and-a-half-year recovery from a devastating car accident.
The run of Rufus songs continued with Chaka’s guitarist talk-boxing a bit of “California Love” as an introduction to “Tell Me Something Good”. She went on to hit more high notes in spectacular fashion on “Sweet Thing”.
From there, it was nothing but the most iconic songs from Chaka’s solo career. She serenaded the audience with “Through The Fire” and got the crowd out of their seats for “I Feel For You” and “I’m Every Woman”. To close out the show, Chaka returned to the Hollywood Bowl shell for an encore of “Ain’t Nobody”.
That won’t be the end of Chaka’s semicentennial, though. She is scheduled to play seven more dates across America before the end of September, including a return to the L.A. area as part of a stacked lineup at the single-day Fool In Love Festival in Inglewood at the end of August. For a full list of upcoming shows and to purchase tickets, visit her website.
Chaka Khan – “I Feel For You” – 7/26/24
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