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Donny Hathaway

80

Donny Hathaway

Donny Hathaway
 
Voices such as Donny Hathaway’s come along maybe once a decade. Before his brief but influential career was cut short by suicide in 1979, Hathaway proved himself a maestro of protest soul who effused equal amounts of political anger and romantic tenderness. With that being so, it’s a curious fact that despite his vocal gifts and his acknowledged influence on the neo-soul movement of the early 2000’s, his catalogue is often ignored. His debut album, 1970’s Everything is Everything, is equal parts spiritual and political. The album is a stirring introduction to Hathaway’s many vocal and songwriting influences (gospel, jazz, classical) and lay the ground-work for where he strove to take them. 1971’s self-titled, Donny Hathaway, consists mainly of his redefining interpretations of the current Top 40 at that time, like his shiver-inducing versions of the Leon Russell/Carpenters tune “A Song for You” and the Hollies’ “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.” The real highlight of Hathaway’s discography, though, is his the 1972 live album, simply titled Live. This was my introduction to Hathaway thanks to my friend and bass player in my band who was amazed at the bass solo on the last track of the album, he had to share with me the amazement that is this album. With stirring covers of John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” and Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” the album would be great as a covers album, but it’s album's aforementioned closer “Everything is Everything” which highlights the talents of the band-members through separate solos. These solos prove Hathaway and his band were truly soul legends whose influence can still be felt in today’s music. 1973’s Extension of a Man was his ambitious, “heavy” album, featuring the epochal “Someday We’ll All Be Free” and the LP’s grandiose orchestral opener, “I Love the Lore,He Head My Cry (Parts 1 & 2)." 1980 gave us the collaboration album with Roberta Flack, Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway. In 2013 Rhino records did an amazing job of capturing Hathaway with the box set, Never My Love: The Anthology, which I highly recommend for the die-hard fans out there. The music is timeless and I wish he would’ve stayed…
It’s Donny Hathaway

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