What is R&B, where’d it come from and where’d it go?
An array of five-star entertainers will give a musical answer to these questions when the Manship Theatre presents the "Rhythm and Blues Revue" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7.
Two-time Emmy and Grammy Award winner Mike Esneault, bandleader for the show, predicts a sold-out event that features New Orleans cabaret star Anais St. John and local singers Victoria Cave and Wendell Woods.
Anais St. John
"I made a conscientious effort to bring incredibly well-rounded and versatile musicians so that we could show the broad range of genres that have been a part of R&B throughout the years, including gospel, jazz, funk and others," Esneault said.
The bandleader, who also is the Arts in Education director for the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, will also play piano and keyboard, along with Andy Bourgeois on saxophone, David Ellis on bass, and Don Vappie on guitar, who's also featured on vocals.
Vappie has a big fan base in Baton Rouge as well as in New Orleans, and is also popular in Europe from many international tours with his band. He also narrated and was featured in Louisiana Public Broadcasting's post-Katrina film "American Creole: New Orleans Reunion," showing the havoc of the storm and the determination of New Orleans musicians to reunite and keep their music alive.
St. John is a versatile cabaret singer; jazz, opera and musical theater performer; and an educator honored for Excellence in Teaching. She's had popular stints as featured chanteuse in well-known New Orleans hotels and a more diverse audience in her current venue in the French Quarter, the Bombay Club. She is often invited to perform in festivals in Italy and other countries.
Cave launched her solo singing career in her hometown of Las Vegas but the road companies of several Broadway plays recruited her and then followed a series of band tours with such stars as Stevie Wonder. Now making Baton Rouge her home, she continues her solo career as well as being a part of popular local group Phat Hat with leader Woods.
Rhythm and blues is a term musicians adopted in the 1940s to describe the transition from traditional blues to include a more varied and often more prominent and complicated rhythm pattern.
"R&B often had a faster, heavier beat, and was suitable for doing the new dances that came along every few years," Esneault said.
The music and the term R&B became better known in the 1950s and '60s when Billboard and other music magazines made a separate chart, replacing the previous term “race” records. Much of the music derived its feel from the gospel and spiritual music that many of its early stars heard in the churches of their youth.
Wendell Woods
Those fortunate ticket holders for Thursday’s show will hear new versions of songs that are widely known and loved. Many were made famous by Marvin Gaye, Tina Turner, Diana Ross and others. It’s going to make you want to dance in the aisles.