I know he doesnt like this version, Patti Smith said, with a grin, of Van Morrison before launching into her iconic transformation of Gloria for the finale of Thursdays Carnegie Hall tribute to the Belfast singer. But Im thanking him anyway.
The same could probably be said of many of the standout performances at this years edition of promoter Michael Dorfs annual benefit tribute concert, which raised money to provide music education to underprivileged youth and gathered a wide, multi-generational group of artists lifelong soul men, country troubadours, adult contemporary hit-makers, rowdy punk rebels and folk eccentrics to honor one of rocks most distinctive, if notoriously picky, singers.
As might be expected for a vocalist as sui generis as Morrison, his half-centuryspanning catalog doesnt easily lend itself to interpretation. It can be almost impossible to divorce the singers quintessential statements from Caravan to Madame George from the voice that first recorded them.
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And yet his songbook, grounded in the blues, inspired by jazz, informed by folk, gospel and country, and communicated in his fierce Celtic R&B, is surprisingly flexible, and, as made evident by the impressively wide range of thrilling performances at Carnegie Hall, endlessly adaptable.
For the most part, it was the younger artists who understood this best, the ones who likely grew up with Morrisons music as part of their musical foundation, their parents playing his records on heavy rotation. Thursdays highlights, from Josh Ritters breathtaking folk-noir spin on Linden Arden Stole the Highlights to Valerie Junes mystical rendition of Sweet Thing and Anderson Easts transcendent country-soul version of Purple Heather, didnt so much radically reinterpret Morrisons music as simply adapt it to the performers own singular style.
The brightest moments at Carnegie Hall were, accordingly, the ones that showed just how far the tentacles of Morrisons pop influence have spread over the years: from emo-folk, on Gaslight Anthem singer Brian Fallons fittingly melancholy take on the late Nineties chestnut High Summer; to Anti-era Rihanna R&B, on local high school singer Jayri Alvarezsthrilling duet with Amy Helm on If I Ever Needed Someone; to Texas barroom country, on Robert Earl Keens lively performance of Wild Night, which traded in horns for mandolin and fiddle. Wed like to thank Van, said country-soul duo the Secret Sisters from the stage, for making the kind of music that brings two Alabama rednecks to Carnegie Hall.
The two-hour-plus show, which featured veterans like Lee Fields and David Johansen alongside next-gen upstarts Low Cut Connie and East, was anchored by an impeccable house band comprising bassist Tony Garnier, drummer Steve Jordan, guitarist Smokey Hormel and keyboardist Leon Pendarvis alongside the horns from the Brooklyn Afrobeat collective Antibalas. Most of the material, predictably, drew from Morrisons earliest years: more than half the selections on the 21-song set list were released by 1971.
Of course, then, the evening featured requisite greatest-hits reenactments from the bills elder-statesmen: Marc Cohn and Shawn Colvin trading verses on Into the Mystic, Richard Marx belting out Domino, and, perhaps most jarringly, Todd Rundgren leading the crowd through a sing-along of Brown Eyed Girl.
Yet it fell to other performers to provide the precious few moments that even Morrison himself might have approved of. Master interpreter Bettye LaVette delivered, once again, with a spellbinding Have I Told You Lately, while the Blind Boys of Alabama offered a fitting five-part gospel harmony version on the 1991 obscurity By His Grace.
The show concluded with consecutive performances from Glen Hansard and Patti Smith, the two performers at the show best known for their consummate Van Morrison covers. Smith brought out the complete cast of the nights singers for her Horses-era Gloria finale. Hansards penultimate solo-acoustic take on Astral Weeks, complete with a seeming technical glitch that resulted in the singer ending the song at the lip of the stage without amplification, enraptured the sold-out crowd.
When you sing from the heart, he screamed out loud, urging the crowd to join in an unlikely sing-along, its never out of tune. Another statement Morrison might see fit to dispute. But on a night when risk-taking and genre-hopping yielded the biggest thrills, it rang true.
Set List:
Brian Fallon, High Summer
Blind Boys of Alabama, By His Grace
Shawn Colvin, Tupelo Honey
Marc Cohn and Shawn Colvin, Into the Mystic
Amy Helm and Little Kids Rock, If I Ever Needed Someone
Lee Fields & the Expressions, And It Stoned Me
Robert Earl Keen, Wild Night
Josh Ritter, Linden Arden Stole the Highlights
Resistance Revival Chorus, Days Like This
Richard Marx, Domino
Anderson East, Purple Heather
Valerie June, Sweet Thing
William Elliott Whitmore, Real Real Gone
Low Cut Connie, Here Comes The Night
Bettye LaVette, Have I Told You Lately
John Paul White, Youre My Woman
David Johansen, My Lonely Sad Eyes
Secret Sisters, Precious Time
Todd Rundgren, Brown Eyed Girl
Glen Hansard, Astral Weeks
Patti Smith, Gloria