Tribute to Michael McDonald
Tribute to Michael McDonald
The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles was packed and the large crowd was
eagerly awaiting a very special evening: an evening with and about Michael
McDonald (no presentation necessary). The event was hosted and sponsored by
Yamaha and NAMM (International Music Products Association) - Michael McDonald was to receive the Yamaha
"Lifetime Achievement in Musical Excellence Award". You might say that the
evening was a way for his many musical friends and fans to say thank you for the many
years of memorable musical contributions both
as a solo artist and a collaborator.
The host of the evening was
the actor Jeff Bridges - a close friend of Michael
Mcdonald and co-founder of McDonald's new record label Ramp (in fact Jeff Bridges is
about to release an album og his own!) - and what a great job he did. Naturally there were
a many well chosen words about McDonalds body of work and his importance to the music
industry.
The evening started off with a medley of classic Michael McDonald songs lead by musical director Tim
Akers (piano) and the all-star band: Steve Gadd (drums), Alex Acuna (percussion), Nathan
East (bass), Tommy Simms (bass/vocals), Marc Harris (organ), Steve Porcaro (keyboards),
Bernie Chiaravalle (guitar), Chris Rodriguez (guitar/vocals), Dave Koz (sax), George
Shelby (sax), Vince Dimartino (trumpet), Bobby Shew (trumpet), Steve Turre (trombone), Amy
Holland (vocals), Kim Carnes (vocals), Philip Ingram (vocals) & Valerie Pinkston
(vocals). And yes - they were every bit as good as you imagined.
First in the long line of guest stars were Crystal Bernard & Billy Dean singing
"If That What It Takes". These two CCMīs stars really gave the audience an
indication of what outstanding musical performances we could expect this evening.
Actually it is very difficult to describe how this Millennium tribute concert was. Simply
put it was the best musical event I have ever attended. Nothing was bad, everything was at
such a high musical level, and how wonderful it was to listen to all those great McDonald
songs - old ones and new ones.
Friends from Nashville turned up to help celebrate McDonald on this special night: the
trio SheDaisy performed "I Canīt Let Go" and The Wilkinsons sang "Sweet
Freedom". Then Christopher Cross entered the scene with "Ride Like The
Wind" and for the first time we McDonald himself took the stage. The crowd went wild
as if the Shrine had been filled with teenagers at a Backstreet Boys concert. Christopher
Cross then introduced two friends David Pack and Alan
Parsons and performed song taken from an album of the latter.
Patti Austin gave a terrific performance - as always. And McDonald and Patti Labelle were
reunited for "On My Own" - the first time since this big hit was released in the
mid-eighties.
One of the most exciting performances was made by James Ingram (new look, no hair) singing "Ya Mo Be
There" together with McDonald. David Pack joined
the two for "Maria" the classic song from the musical West Side Story.
Another guest star with an immense presens on stage was Kenny
Loggins. He sang "Heart To Heart" and "This Is It". Toto had a
video presentation because Steve Lukather were in Japan, but David Paich entered the scene
and told the audience some secret things about McDonald and then performed "Gypsy
Woman" together with Boz Scaggs.
Ray Charles did a very special version of "Hey Girl" clearly
enjoying himself and after that he sang "I Donīt Need A Doctor" together with
Michael McDonald. Steve Winwood performed "I Keep
Forgettinī" one of the most popular McDonald songs.
The man to whom the evening was dedicated performed songs from his new and very long
awaited album Blue Obsession, and what a joy that was to listen to. And to some surprise
the host of the evening Jeff Bridges did a song from his upcoming album, where McDonald is
featured doing a duet with Bridges.
This wonderful and truly memorable evening was closed by Doobie Brothers and you could
here see how happy McDonald was to perform the classic "Minute By Minute" and
"What A Fool Believes" together with his old friends. Kenny Loggins helped out on "What A Fool
Believes"
What can I say...... what an appropriate tribute to a fantastic artist.
Musical nirvana!
Kenneth Bremer
