On Friday, March 18, 2016, R&B singing sensation Aaron Neville performed at the Jay and Linda Grunin Center for the Arts, located on the campus of Ocean County College in Toms River, NJ.
Neville, the New Orleans based tenor blessed with one of the most distinctive voices in American music and a member of the Neville Brothers, is internationally known for his four Top 10 US hits and four Platinum albums.
At the Grunin Center, however, Neville presented a warm and intimate evening of music featuring his unique vocal abilities, accompanied by his accomplished pianist, Michael Woods.
In discussing this concert, Neville called the pieces he selected “a musical journey — stuff that made me who I am.”
During the course of his nonstop two-hour set, Neville performed more than three dozen songs — several of them coming from his latest Blue Note recording, My True Story.
And in addition to singing, he also shared a few stories.
One particular childhood story centered around Neville’s older brother, Art, who had a doo-wop group that would sit out on a park bench at night and harmonize. According to Neville, as a boy, he would often hang around Art’s group to the point where Art and the guys would say, “Get away from me, kid” and try to run him off — until they heard his voice. Then, recalls Neville, “when they figured I could hold a note, they let me in.”
As a youngster, Neville listened to the doo-wop records Art brought home from his job at a record store. He also listened to the songs his mother sang around the house, the Nat King Cole and Sarah Vaughn records she played, and the yodeling of cowboy singers he heard at the movies.
All of these influences helped to give Neville — one of today’s preeminent vocal artists — a signature sound which is his alone.
For instance, he can jump octaves with his voice like no other singer can.
In addition, his musical runs are beyond compare. When he sings, he says he tries to “connect the dots with the notes,” and further adds, “When people would say, ‘Can you sing it straight?,’ I’d say, ‘No, man — that’s how I sing!”
His vibrato is beautiful. Closing his eyes, listening to the sound talk to him, and then covering one ear, Neville seems to have the ability to feel the space between the notes and then fill that space with his resonating sonic tapestry.
Over the course of the evening at the Grunin Center, Neville used his considerable vocal talents to perform a number of the songs he’s famous for including his 1966 hit, “Tell It Like It Is,” which had audience members singing along and waving their hands in approval.
He also interpreted other songs which have a special meaning for him including Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me,” The Clovers’ “Love Potion Number 9,” Don McLean’s “Vincent,” and Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender.”
He did not, however, sing one of his greatest hits, “Don’t Know Much,” which he orginally recorded with Linda Ronstadt, now describing that performance as being “the next best thing to being in heaven.”
Explains Neville, “Linda said our voices were married — that we sang together in another life.”
And he still keeps in touch with Ronstadt who now suffers from Parkinson’s Disease and can no longer sing. Says Aaron, “I call her sometimes and remind her she’s one of the best ever — of all time.”
Telling the crowd at the Grunin Center that he feels he graduated from the “School of Doo-wop-ology,” Neville also performed a number of songs from his latest album, My True Story, his homage to the doo-wop music of his youth.
The album was co-produced by Don Was who previously recorded Neville’s duet with Robbie Robertson, “Crazy Love,” for the film Phenomenon; he also produced “I Fall to Pieces,” Neville’s country duet with Tricia Yearwood.
The album was also co-produced by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, who additionally played guitar. Neville says Richards had so much fun working on the recording with some of the best players and back-up singers in the business that at one point he reportedly exclaimed, “All these hardened musicians…and they’re acting like a bunch of kids!”
Selections from My True Story which Neville sang at the Grunin Center included “This Magic Moment,” “Work With Me, Annie,” “Goodnight My Love,” and an alluring version of The Impressions’ “Gypsy Woman,” where, at times, audience members sang along uninvited, drawn to participate with Neville’s voice which was both crying and pleading at the same time.
He also did a rousing version of The Drifters’ “Under the Boardwalk,” where he cued the audience to continue the bass part of the chorus (Under the boardwalk) underneath his breezy falcetto above them (Out of the sun…, We’ll be havin’ some fun…, etc.).
And then Neville proceeded to stun the crowd with a simply gorgeous version of “Ave Maria,” lifting many to their feet.
Over the course of the evening, Neville proved to the audience that he is clearly someone who loves to perform, and his admirers responded by listening, clapping, swaying, and singing along. At one point, Neville even acknowledged their participation by telling them, “I like that! I’ll take you out on the road!”
Reveals Aaron, “I like to be on the stage. I don’t like traveling on the airplanes and all that,” adding, “I’m waiting on them to come up with like what they did on Star Trek and beam me from my house to the stage.”
Winding down his musical journey, Neville presented an appealing medley of tunes which included an up-tempo “Down By the Riverside,” a rousing “When the Saints Go Marching In,” and a heartfelt “Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight.”
And what did Aaron choose to top that and conclude his My True Story of an evening?
“The Mickey Mouse Club March.”
Why?
Because he likes us.
For information on Aaron Neville’s concert tour, recordings, and more, go to aaronneville.com. For information on upcoming performances at Toms River, NJ’s Grunin Center of the Arts — including regional favorites The Bronx Wanderers on May 7 and Broadway’s Adam Pascal & Daphne Rubin-Vega on June 3 — go to www.grunincenter.org.
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Jason Robert Brown is a four-time Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of The Last Five Years, Parade, Songs for a New World, 13, The Bridges of Madison County, Honeymoon In Vegas and The Connector, has performed as a soloist or with his band in venues around the world, including sold-out shows at the London Palladium and Carnegie Hall. His albums as a singer-songwriter include Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes and How We React and How We Recover on Ghostlight, and Coming From Inside the House and Live In Concert with Stephen Sondheim on Concord.
With Special Guest Tony nominee Betsy Wolfe. Tony Award-nominated actress Betsy Wolfe is currently starring as Audrey in the acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, following her recent Broadway run as Madeline Ashton in the hit musical Death Becomes Her. She previously originated the title role in Joy, the new musical inspired by inventor Joy Mangano, and earned a 2023 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her celebrated performance as Anne Hathaway in & Juliet. Other Broadway credits include starring as Jenna in Waitress, Cordelia in the acclaimed revival of Falsettos, Bullets Over Broadway, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Everyday Rapture, and 110 in the Shade, as well as her critically acclaimed performance as Cathy in the Off-Broadway revival of The Last Five Years. Wolfe made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Die Fledermaus and has appeared as a guest artist with more than 65 symphony, pops, and philharmonic orchestras worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra, with performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Her screen credits include First One In, Estella Scrooge, CBS’s Instinct, and the film adaptation of The Last Five Years. Wolfe is also the co-founder of BroadwayEvolved, the acclaimed musical theatre training program she launched in 2018 to train and mentor the next generation of theatre artists.
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