Stevie Wonder at American Airline Center

(Photo: rap photo company.com Roman Pena & Jamie Ford)

Stevie Wonder

American Airlines Center

Dallas, Texas

March 22, 2015

One would not know it but Stevie Wonder played with a heavy heart during his Songs in the Key of Life run in Dallas. He still delivered and gave the fans the time of their life but at various stages during the concert he shared that there was an air of sadness, melancholy, even death around him.

He said one of his background singers Keith John was found unconscious in his room; he is recovering and Stevie said doctors discovered a tumor. At times he came close to tears and his daughter standing next to him would pat him on the back and console him.

He also dedicated the concert to Yvonne Wright who is battling cancer. He said, “I have shared so much of my life with you in my songs.” And he went on to say he and Yvonne were lovers years ago. But he quickly added he doesn’t get into gossip. (He was alluding to the fact that Yvonne is the sister of his former wife, the late Syreeta.) It was a touching moment when Yvonne walked on stage – her hair cropped short from treatment – at the end of Joy Inside my Tears.

Another touching moment was when Stevie told the story of Dorothy Ashby who played harp on his song If It’s Magic. “I wanted to write a song about magic,” he said. “What is the best, most magical thing in the world? Love.” He said he didn’t use the word ‘love’ in the song, but the listener knows what he was referring. Unfortunately, Dorothy Ashby died before the song became popular, Stevie said. So he honored her by playing not with his band but the actual track of the late Dorothy Ashby on harp.

But through it all, Stevie Wonder was the consummate professional. While he was going through a difficult time in his life, he gave the fans the time of their lives.

Stevie Wonder’s Daughter

Stevie Wonder’s daughter Aisha, who was introduced to the world with the Isn’t She Lovely is now 40 years old! She travels with her dad as a background singer. It was Aisha who led Stevie on the floor at the start of his concert.

She was to join Stevie front and center a few more times throughout the night. Stevie went on to tell the story of when Aisha was little and cussing up a storm in the house saying oh s__t, oh s__t. Stevie said he told her, “Stop doing that.” And he thought, where could she have got that from?

But Aisha turned to her friends in the band and said, “I’m sure all the band members know where I got that from, right?” As the crowd laughed, the band went into the song Isn’t She Lovely. The horns led the way, then the horns gave way to the harmonica (Stevie left most of the harmonica playing to Frederic Yonnet.) The harmonica gave way to the strings. During the song, a live shot of Aisha showed her with a big smile.

The Dallas Connection

  

A lot of the songs had a touch of classical arrangement and along with Stevie’s band there was a string section, a mini orchestra, made up of players from the Dallas area. They were a big part of the show and they were directed by Stevie’s keyboard player Greg Phillinganes.

At one point as the band played Stevie said, “No matter where you go, musicians like to jam. I don’t care if his country, rock, hip hop, Johan Sebastian Bach.” And he called on one of the string players to get up and jam. One Emily got up with her violin. She brought the house down as Stevie chanted Do it, Emily! As she took her seat she had a great big smile and she got a high five from Greg Phillinganes.

Stevie Wonder ended the concert with Superstition. It is not on the Songs of the Key of Life album, but it was a fitting ending with a song that was recorded and introduced to another generation by Dallas’ own Stevie Ray Vaughn. Virtually everyone was dancing on this one.

Stevie’s Band

Stevie is like Noah, he collected two of everything: two drummers, two percussion players, two guitars. Throw in two harmonica players and two keyboard players also because in addition Frederic Yonnet (harmonica) and Greg Phillinganes (keyboard), at times Stevie played those instruments also.

It looked like a big band on stage, by some estimates 30. With a horn section of a baritone, tenor, alto saxophone, a trombone, and, yes, two trumpets; Stevie called them the baddest, nastiest horn section in the world. There was also Stevie’s longtime bass player and musical director Nathan Watts. There were about six background singers and in addition members of the New York City Choir.

Songs in the Key of Life

For three hours Stevie and the crew jammed. He said the title, Songs in the Key of Life, came to him in a dream. He said, a sound engineer asked, why the title, why Songs in the Key of Life? Stevie said he answered, “Not just me, all the writers are writing Songs in the Key of Life. We would never be able to write all the songs in the key life; this is just some of them.”