There can be worse things than a cavalcade of pop stars interpreting the Stevie Wonder songbook. But on Tuesday night at L.A. Live’s Nokia Theatre, where “Songs in the Key of Life” was being taped for a Feb. 16 airing on CBS as “An All-Star Grammy Salute,” it became increasingly clear that the show’s billing was either misleading or this reporter was not reading between the lines.
“Songs in the Key of Life” — Wonder’s 1976 double-album magnum opus that was the culmination of a string of masterpieces that began in 1972 with “Music of My Mind” and “Talking Book” and continued through Wonder’s Grammy-winning trifecta of “Innervisions,” “Fulfillingness First Finale” and “Songs” itself — represented the height of pop ambition and political awareness by an artist at the peak of his powers.
But the overblown extravaganza at Nokia was more career celebration, produced in slick awards-show fashion, than focused musical event. Ever since it was announced last September that Wonder was taking a front-to-back presentation of “Songs” on the road, anticipation ran sky high, even though the geniuses at Live Nation decided, inexplicably, to bypass Los Angeles. With that 22-city tour that began in November still very much alive, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to right a glaring wrong. But this was something else entirely.
It took until 40 minutes into Tuesday night’s show for a song (“I Wish”) from the actual album to make it into the program, performed by a game Lady Gaga, playing electric keyboards rather than her trademark grand piano. Along the way the audience endured a warm-up monologue by the show’s producer, Ken Ehrlich — an awards show wizard whose talents are perhaps best demonstrated behind the curtain — and a series of testimonials not unlike those of last year’s post Grammy salute to the Beatles at the adjacent Convention Center.
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Ehrlich related to the audience that Beyonce, who kicked off the affair with a something more akin to a cheer-lead than an approximation of Wonder’s fist hit single, “Fingertips,” told him that “I’m not sure about the Grammys, but I want to be there for Stevie Wonder.” The anecdote set the tone of the evening, with celebrity after celebrity professing their devotion to the living legend.
Maya Rudolph recalled growing up with the music of Stevie Wonder, who literally played in her living room (her mother, the late Minnie Riperton, sang back-up on “Ordinary Pain” from “Songs”); Tyler Perry called Wonder’s “I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever),” sung on this night by John Legend, “baby-making music”; and Paul McCartney, piping in via video, called Wonder a “genius.”
That genius was on full display during several vintage clips shown throughout the evening, which might have done a disservice to the show, since the juxtaposition of the real thing with those paying tribute didn’t always work in their favor. (One bit of footage, of Wonder playing an instrumental version of “Alfie” on harmonica, with a rapt Burt Bacharach gazing worshipfully at his side, was especially riveting.)
Tony Bennett, who views Wonder as “one of the great jazz artists that ever lived” due to Stevie’s ability to improvise, proceeded to sing “For Once In My Life” with a jazz arrangement, while Wonder, seated among the celebrity throng, had an expression that fell somewhere between confused and pained. Annie Lennox, so bewitching on the previous Sunday night at the Grammys when she dueted with Irish rocker Hozier, managed to mangle “My Cherie Amour” with singing so out of tune that it’s a wonder Ehrlich didn’t demand a retake. And Andrea Bocelli reminded us with “I Just Called to Say I Love You” that a treacly ballad rarely rises above a treacly delivery.
Not that the program didn’t have its inspired moments. Despite a full-on orchestra with a phalanx of backup singers, it was the stripped-down versions of Wonder’s material that often worked best, such as Ariana Grande and Babyface’s gorgeous rendition of “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” with the latter on acoustic guitar; and Ed Sheeran, also playing acoustic guitar, displaying his own Wonder-esque vocal range on “I Was Made to Love Her.”
But it was the melismatic trio for the ages — India Arie, Jill Scott and Wonder acolyte Janelle Monae — that emerged as the evening’s clear highlight, singing a rousing version of “I Wish,” one of “Songs'” hit singles, that blew the roof off the Nokia. Scott even managed Wonder’s ferocious growl in the song’s bridge. Now this is a combo that needs to go on the road.
Oh, Wonder did eventually take the stage more than three hours in for the show’s finale, but you’ll have to tune into the telecast on Monday to hear how that turned out.
