[ CLASSIC EVENING ]

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BROKAW COMPANY Lou Rawls

Timeless tunes,
velvet voice

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By John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.com

Who could blame Lou Rawls if he decided to coast on his reputation and pick up some easy money cruising the oldies circuit? After all, artists with far less impressive discographies than Rawls are making a living off the hits of singers and musicians long dead and gone. So why not Lou Rawls?

It's because that's not who he is -- besides, he has too many new projects going on these days to think of himself as an "oldies" act.

First, there's the concert schedule that includes his return engagement this weekend to sing with the Honolulu Symphony.

Next -- and this is still in the planning stages -- is the upcoming tour of "The Three Baritones," a pure R&B/pop counterpart to "The Three Tenors," that will present Rawls in a triple-bill concert with Isaac Hayes and either Barry White or Larry Graham.

Equally exciting, and already a proven hit, is "Me and Mrs. Jones," a musical revue based on the classic Philadelphia International hits written and produced by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff in the 1970s. Rawls plays a married judge who's having an affair with an equally married attorney; they meet each day in the same cafe where a group of aspiring songwriters hang out and work on material. The show includes 42 Gamble-Huff hits, with some, such as "If You Don't Know Me By Now," used as dialogue between characters.

Rawls' biggest hits from his days with the Gamble-Huff organization, "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" and "Lady Love," are in there, too.

"We did three months (in Philadelphia) and sold out 75 performances, and it went over really good," Rawls said during an early morning telephone interview. "We're in the process now of working with Clear Channel to take it on the road and put it out there. That's something that I want to bring over to Hawaii because people can relate to that music in a minute.

"I want to do what 'Mamma Mia' is doing (for ABBA) ... they had 'Dancing Queen,' but in this thing, we've got 42 songs and they all were gold or platinum in the '70s. It's a hot property." (For more information on "Me and Mrs. Jones," see his Web site at www.lourawls.com)

And as if that's not enough to keep Rawls busy, he also oversees his own record company that he co-founded with his long-time manager, David Brokaw.

In 2001, Rawls returned to his gospel roots and recorded "I'm Blessed" for Malaco Records. Although he'd sung gospel in his church choir as a child, and made his first recordings as a member of a gospel group back in the '50s, the album was his first solo gospel project.

IN SHORT, Rawls' career is as interesting these days as it was when he first began hitting the pop and R&B charts with songs like "Love Is A Hurtin' Thing" and "Your Good Thing (Is About To End)," and throughout the decades when he was heard around the world as the commercial spokesman for Anheuser Busch ("When you say Bud, you've said it all!").

Along the way, Rawls won three Grammy Awards, had a gold single for "You'll Never Find ... ," four gold albums and one platinum album. Frank Sinatra himself hailed him as a fellow saloon singer whose voice touched the heart and soul.

No one is more enthusiastic about Rawls' return to Hawaii than the members of Reign. It'll be their second time singing with the Symphony, but this time the five-man vocal group will be the featured local guest act that performs during the first half of the program.

STAR-BULLETIN / 2001 The vocal group Reign will perform with the Honolulu Symphony during the first half of the show. Pictured clockwise from upper left, Afatia Thompson, Loa Faimealelei, Kuhio Yim, Tinifuloa Grey and Kale Chang.

"When we did the show with Henry (Kapono), it was awesome to hear the big sound (of the Symphony) behind us," group member Kuhio Yim said recently.

"You have all these professionals right behind you, backing you up, and you feel so honored to have the opportunity. Now they're asking us to come back and do our own spot," Tinifuloa Gray added.

Honolulu Symphony Principal Pops Conductor Matt Catingub asked leader Kale Chang to select four songs to arrange for the performance. Cutting the list of possibilities to four was tough, Chang said. Since Reign represents the musical traditions of Hawaii and other Polynesian nations, he decided that one would be a Samoan song written by Grey's father.

"It was written for my sister," Grey said. "It talks about the oleander flower that is found in the mountains of Samoa and the metaphor is about this beautiful flower that everybody wants to reach for, everybody wants to decorate themselves with or to embrace it, but it's hard for them. They have to work for the love of this person. I'm so happy, surprised actually, that Kale gave it to Matt for us to sing. I haven't told my dad yet, so that's gonna be a surprise."

Chang says that Reign is looking forward to working with Catingub and the Symphony for another reason.

"Another great thing ... is that it's not a club," he said. "People are sober, people are listening and we really get to show what we can do vocally."

Rawls can relate to that. Back when he was just another young singer working the chitlin circuit, he'd sometimes find himself facing crowds that seemed more interested in drinking, smoking and "chasing the cat," than in listening to him sing.

It was under those circumstances that he became a storyteller.

"I had to get their attention and the only way I could, instead of just getting up and going ahead with the music, was to start talking to 'em," he said. "The first Grammy I got was on 'Dead End Street' about the cold wind in Chicago, called 'The Hawk,' and still, to this day, people want to hear about 'The Hawk,'" he said.

Rawls hit it big again with another narrative intro in 1971 when he did "A Natural Man."

"It kind of was (political)," Rawls said of his opening monologue about how things had changed from the days when people did as they were told and didn't ask questions. "It was right during the time that we were being brainwashed about the troops in Vietnam and all that. The funny thing is, a lot of the rappers today remember that and they'll come up and say 'you're the man' and I appreciate that."

In over 40 years as an entertainer, Rawls has epitomized the ideal of the song stylist who can take standards from genres ranging from gospel to pop and reinterpret them in a way that makes them his own. As the title of his 1977 gold album put it so well, "When you hear Lou, you've heard it all."

"Budweiser did a survey when I was with them and told me that the three most recognized voices on the planet (were) Muhammed Ali, Howard Cosell and me. And you know, what's funny is that I can be in an elevator or standing somewhere talking and people will come over and say, 'I wasn't sure, but when you opened your mouth, I knew it was you.' I consider that a blessing."

Lou Rawls, Reign and the Honolulu Symphony with conductor Matt Catingub Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall When: 8 p.m. today and tomorrow and 4 p.m. Sunday Tickets: $17-$59; available at the Blaisdell Box Office, all TicketsPlus outlets and at www.honolulusymphony.com Call: 792-2000

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