EXCLUSIVE! Jazz Great Nnenna Freelon Thanks Ray Charles With New Show, Playing Folsom, Modesto This Week

by Michael P Coleman

“I’d be doing a disservice if I didn’t exercise gratitude for those who did the hard work, and allowed me to stay at the hotel, to eat in the restaurant, to come into the auditorium through the front door before walking up on stage, to be acknowledged for what I do, and to be compensated for what I love to do.” – Nnenna Freelon 

As I’m writing about musicians, I prefer to listen to that artist’s music. Doing so helps me minimize my voice and position the musician’s voice, their art, front and center.

So I looked forward to listening to six time Grammy nominee Nnenna Freelon as I wrote this. Freelon is touring the country with Take 6 and Clint Holmes, presenting Georgia On My Mind: A Celebration of Ray Charles.

The show gives honor to Charles via stunning versions of all of his hits, visiting genres from blues to country to jazz to gospel. It plays the Harris Center in Folsom on February 13 and Modesto’s Gallo Center for the Arts on February 15.

Against form, I found myself swaying to Ray Charles while I wrote this feature, in lieu of streaming some of Freelon’s incredible work. It was fitting, given how lovingly she spoke of Charles during our recent chat. She told me all about touring Europe with the legend, at the dawn of her own career.

“To be honest, it was daunting. I was a little scared,” Freelon, 64 shared. “I was a very young singer and new to the game [and] Ray was a force of nature — that’s the only way I can describe it. The music seemed to come from the earth itself. There was no artifice, he was so natural…that was Ray. I learned so much by just observing [him].”

“He was gracious, and a little irreverent in his humor,” Freelon continued. “He was a bit old fashioned about women, in a way that would probably get you in a lot of trouble today,” Freelon chuckled.

“He had a power and a command of the audience that few people have. Ray was totally comfortable with being who he was [on stage]. And by doing that, he made everybody in his audience comfortable with who they were.”

If you’re unfamiliar with Freelon, I don’t know where to start. I’ve been a member of her throng since 2002, when she released a stunning collection of Stevie Wonder covers, Tales Of Wonder. That album includes a version of Smokey Robinson & The Miracles’ “The Tears Of A Clown” (which Wonder co-wrote) that Smokey himself called his favorite version!

Freelon couldn’t have been more effusive in her admiration for Charles and others of his generation who, she insisted, paved the way for her and generations of music artists.

Read MPC’s full feature, including more from Freelon including her thoughts on Holmes and Take 6, and her call to action for anyone coming to the show!