 It is certainly no accident that Teena Marie has been embraced by
soul music fans from across the nation and around the world. In a
career that has continuously defied racial norms, Teena Marie's music
is acclaimed by critics and fans alike not only for its diversity, but
also for Teena Marie's musicality. This sense of musicality is evident
on everything Marie sings, and, as r&b music becomes more about
sampling and image and less about pure musical ability, Marie's
strengths in this area are even more obvious and, to many fans of real
"soul" music, more appreciated.
It is my belief that perhaps Marie's best strength in the field of
sheer musical talent is, in addition to that powerful voice, her
ability to use her instrument to profoundly affect the listener. It is
easy enough for a person to simply sing a song, but Marie doesn't just
sing any song, but rather interprets her music, and the listener
interprets her interpretation. This is especially evident in her
ballads and jazz numbers, where Marie lets the emotion in the lyrics
speak through her use of phrasing. Who can forget, for example, the
delirious joy of "You Make Love Like Springtime" or the pleading
insistance of "Out On A Limb?" Marie gets her point across on the
latter by repeating her plea at the end of the song, realizing as she
finishes that the inevitable will happen: "I'm giving into you again."
The most magical moment of this song occurs at the very end, just as
she is winding down. Marie holds one last note, and then just drops
off, seemingly exhausted. It is a brilliant moment; one can tell she
had given her all in the rendition of this song.
Further brilliant musical moments occur in nearly all of Marie's
songs, and these are due not the least to her excellent lyrical
capabilities (though who can argue that a song with lyrics as simple as
"Ooh La La La" isn't musicially effervescent in its own way?). The
listener feels Marie's pain on songs like "My Dear Mr.Gaye," a tribute
to soul superstar Marvin Gaye at his untimely and tragic death in 1984.
She is crying for him, pleading for him, and the turning point occurs
as she realizes that, even though he is no longer a tangible physical
presence, he will continue to be an important spiritual presence. At
this point, Marie and the musicians pick up the tempo, Marie holds the
notes of her declaration in true soul-style, and the saxophone picks up
a delicious groove as Marie incorporates Gaye references in the end of
the song; and indeed the song has no ending, but just keeps jamming
into infinity.
I could not seriously study Marie's masterful sense of musicality
without including the song "Casanova Brown," a brilliant jazz
torch-song from Marie's 1983 album Robbery. The most musical aspect
of this piece is, as I said before, Marie's interpretation. She does
not simply sing the notes, but adds touches of feeling in her phrasing,
in the volume of her voice, in the way she builds to a dazzling
crescendo and lets us back down again. Like the song says, she always
"keeps me guessing." What do we make of this jazzy torch singer; is she
indeed the same singer that rocked out on "You So Heavy" and sang to us
of Latin rhythms in "Stop The World?"
It is all fair game as "Casanova
Brown" builds to a scene at a concert with jazzy horn passages, and
then, suddenly, sublimely, everything is quiet, and Marie confesses "It
hurt me but I had to let...you...go..." What just happened? We are
taken off the high and let down, but are slowly brought back into the
song as Marie's rich vocal cries, scats and finally unleashes a
passionate wail near the end that is so vocally strong that it even
overpowers the instruments in the background. It is a representation
of her pain, her heartache, and the intensity is marvelous.
What is finally the most musically intriguing about this song is the
very end. Marie ends on a major key on the line "Let it end and let's
still be friends." Ah, we think, a resolution after all. But it is not
over. Suddenly the mood turns dark, Marie lets in a few moody "oohs,"
slowly moving down the scale. Just as we think it is all over, there
is a small pause, then the music swells again, and she scats her way to
the finish, ending on what turns out to be a minor note! This is the
brilliance of the interpretation: things are not always as they seem.
What may have seemed resolved is really unresolved. As the minor chord
and Marie's classy voice fade away, we aren't sure whether to feel
resolution or skepticism.
Even if Casanova Brown doesn't keep Teena Marie guessing, she sure keeps the listeners guessing. This is the mark of a true musical artist; to use one's voice
as the instrument of feeling, of soul, to not just read the music but
to feel the music. This is what elevates Marie's music from the
sample-happy r&b music of today.
Marie is all about originality, lyricism, musicality, and finally, emotion. Through her strong sense of
what is musically effective, Marie is able to draw on her intuition to
present the listener with emotionally rich material. Such intuition can
only be garnered from a singer who understands how music effects her,
and, in turn, how music effects the listener. Therefore, Marie's rich,
deeply lyrical tributes to our ears are the interpretations of a woman
who not only understands the power of musicality, but uses it to
deliver music that speaks from, and to, the heart.
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