News / Opinion / Columns

Jayne: No debate: Aretha is Queen

By Greg Jayne, Columbian Opinion Page Editor

Published: April 21, 2019, 6:02am

There are two problems with trying to write about and opine about singers.

One is that it is impossible for words to adequately describe a great singer. You might as well attempt to explain a sunset, knowing that the English language is inadequate for capturing the majesty involved in such a heavenly creation.

The other problem is that singing is inherently subjective; I might be touched and moved by a particular voice that does not resonate as deeply with you. We could argue about it, but it would be hard to say either of us is “wrong” about a matter of opinion. For example, I might believe that Aretha Franklin is the finest singer in the history of recorded sound, the human manifestation of a choir of angels whose voice slips the surly bonds of earth and connects the listener’s soul with something that transcends our humanity, and you might disagree.

You would be wrong.

And so I was compelled to go see “Amazing Grace,” a documentary detailing the 1972 recording of Franklin’s best-selling gospel album of the same name. Filmed over two nights at a tiny church in Los Angeles — with an audience of parishioners, a band, famed singer the Rev. James Cleveland, and a traditional Baptist choir — the film essentially is an 87-minute Aretha Franklin gospel concert.

That provides a unique opportunity to view extraordinary art in a pure form.

For one thing, the film immediately becomes the ultimate document of the ultimate singer, nothing more than Aretha wrenching her gift from the depths of her soul. For another, it provides an opportunity to see an artist in an unfamiliar setting, singing the hymns of her youth devoid of the familiarity of the radio hits and devoid of studio production techniques.

Many a singer can be made to sound good in a studio; few can soar above the setting that is the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in the Watts section of Los Angeles.

As the Rolling Stone review of the movie says, “It will make you feel as if you’ve seen the face of God.” Mick Jagger, who showed up with bandmate Charlie Watts for the second night of recording, years later told The Hollywood Reporter, “I’d seen Aretha many times in concert, but this was the first time I’d seen her in a church. It was an exciting and unique occasion.”

The story behind the film is fascinating in itself. Technical problems with the production delayed its completion for decades; when it was finally finished, Franklin sought to prevent its release for reasons that are not clear in media reports. Following her death in August, the family gave permission for the film to be seen, and now it is making the rounds of art houses. It is currently playing at Cinema 21 in Northwest Portland and the Hollywood Theatre in Northeast Portland.

For music fans, the film is a chronicle of one of the great artists in history. For Christians, it takes on the added meaning of that artist singing to a higher power and of climbing higher mountains trying to get home — which seems particularly poignant with today being Easter.

The just-completed Holy Week has been particularly eventful, with the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Even non-Catholics have been touched by the destruction of centuries of history and artwork, and for believers the fire has provided a heartrending metaphor for the meaning of Easter and the idea of eternal life.

In his 1833 novel “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” Victor Hugo reflected on this art-as-metaphor theme: “Great edifices, like great mountains, are the work of centuries. Art often undergoes a transformation while they are pending, pendent opera interrupta; they proceed quietly in accordance with the transformed art.”

While a work of art can evolve, there is something profoundly transformational about art that captures a singular moment in time as film does, remaining unchanged but retaining the ability to change us in different ways at different places in our experience. Great, extraordinary singers have that ability. And one has it more than any of the others.

Related Stories