{"id":1974,"date":"2016-02-28T21:54:41","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T02:54:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/?p=1974"},"modified":"2019-09-12T14:21:50","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T18:21:50","slug":"mavis-staples-hbo-doc-hits-relevant-civil-rights-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2016\/02\/mavis-staples-hbo-doc-hits-relevant-civil-rights-notes.html","title":{"rendered":"Mavis Staples’ HBO doc hits relevant Civil Rights notes"},"content":{"rendered":"

“I’m not as frisky as I used to be but I feel like I am,” Mavis Staples speaks the truth with a grin and a twinkle in Mavis!<\/a><\/em>, an endearingly upbeat bio doc premiering on HBO tonight (Monday, February 29). Appearing early in the month\u00c2\u00a0for a sneak preview\u00c2\u00a0at Chicago’s Du Sable Museum, the 76-year-old<\/p>\n

\"mavis<\/a>

Mavis Staples performs with guitarist Rick Holmstrom at the preview of Mavis!, an HBO documentary, at Chicago’s DuSable Museum (FAB PHOTO).<\/p><\/div>\n

Chicago fireball\u00c2\u00a0with a\u00c2\u00a0deep gritty voice had the vitality to fool anyone — it also overflows from her new album Livin’ On A High Note<\/a><\/em>. She\u00c2\u00a0mixed merrily with the\u00c2\u00a0crowd, watched the show from a seat in\u00c2\u00a0the theater, then sang two songs backed by her tour band\u00c2\u00a0guitarist Rick Holmstrom. She still gets\u00c2\u00a0shouts from the house, seemingly as irrepressibly spunky\u00c2\u00a0as 50 years ago, when the\u00c2\u00a0Staple Singers stirred positive\u00c2\u00a0messages, gospel certainty\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0bluesy guitar (courtesy of her father, Roebuck “Pops” Staples) into a soundtrack for the\u00c2\u00a0Civil Rights movement and crossover\u00c2\u00a0hits of\u00c2\u00a0 (as Mavis\u00c2\u00a0says) “joy, inspiration, and good vibrations!”<\/p>\n

\"Mavis02\"<\/a>

Pops, Yvonne, Pervis and Mavis Staples – Jazz da Gama<\/p><\/div>\n

Performance clips from back in the days when the Staples decided they could sing what the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King preached, when Mavis flirted with Bob Dylan at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival and when “Respect Yourself<\/a>” was heard on AM radio across the nation, are among the joys of Mavis!, <\/em>edited cogently by director Jessica Edwards with\u00c2\u00a0more recent footage of Mavis with Levon Helm and Jeff Tweedy, commentary by admirers Bonnie Raitt, Chuck D, Sharon Jones, writers Anthony (The Gospel Sound<\/a><\/em>) Heilbut and Greg Kot, the Staples’ biographer<\/a>. Mavis’ memories\u00c2\u00a0of growing up on Chicago’s south side\u00c2\u00a0with neighbors including Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield and Jerry Butler, of driving with Pops, her sisters and brother across the south when Jim Crow was still enforced, and of giving\u00c2\u00a0rocker anthems\u00c2\u00a0like “Blowing in the Wind,” “For What It’s Worth” and “The Weight” the Staples’ trademark “freedom songs” treatment are\u00c2\u00a0at the base, as well,\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0Living’ On A High Note, <\/em>which\u00c2\u00a0<\/em>dropped February 19, with Mavis working through new songs written by contemporary traditionalists including Benjamin Booker, Ben Harper, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Jon Batiste, Neko Case, Nick Cave and producer M. Ward.<\/p>\n

\"d56bb793-0768-4d85-bc2f-64758d3e1931\"<\/a>

Mavis, left, with her sister Yvonne \u00c2\u00a9Joe Alper Photo Collection LLC<\/p><\/div>\n

Any independent black career\u00c2\u00a0in entertainment spanning the last 60 years is guaranteed to have suffered downs as well as ups — Mavis’s path has not been unimpeded, especially when she’s tried to go solo. Despite the certainty of Al Bell, her producer in the ’70s at Stax that “Aretha Franklin was no Mavis Staples,” her first albums under her own name<\/a> were spotty and undercut by business shenanigans. Something similar happened when Prince produced her 1993 release The Voice<\/a>. <\/em>But s<\/em>he’s never stopped singing, with albums in the past 20 years tailored for her by Lucky Peterson and Ry Cooder, besides her own production issued by Alligator Records<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sales success arrived\u00c2\u00a0when Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, a Staples’ devotee, produced You Are Not Alone<\/a>, <\/em>which earned Mavis\u00c2\u00a0a 2011\u00c2\u00a0<\/em>Grammy, and the 2013 followup One True Vine<\/a>. <\/em>Today Mavis Staples has been adopted by\u00c2\u00a0musicians of the new Americana. Her message ought to resound as well with activists urging\u00c2\u00a0Black Lives Matter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Action, action — who’s going to do it if I don’t do it?” she sings on Livin’ On A High Note, <\/em>backed by\u00c2\u00a0casually exacting arrangements propelled by solid if\u00c2\u00a0not overpowering rhythms. From childhood Mavis Staples has\u00c2\u00a0projected the guileless optimism of a young idealist with the gravitas of a seasoned adult, and today she retains both qualities. \u00c2\u00a0The years have inevitably touched Mavis’\u00c2\u00a0vocal chords, but seldom have any except\u00c2\u00a0the greatest\u00c2\u00a0blues and soul singers used a\u00c2\u00a0rasp or groan so well to express\u00c2\u00a0the genuine, urgent conviction we must each ourselves be\u00c2\u00a0responsible for what happens around us.\u00c2\u00a0Listen to her music\u00c2\u00a0and watch Mavis!<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0for a shot of\u00c2\u00a0the spirit\u00c2\u00a0that can nourish activism and lead to\u00c2\u00a0change.<\/p>\n

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“I’m not as frisky as I used to be but I feel like I am,” Mavis Staples speaks the truth with a grin and a twinkle in Mavis!, an endearingly upbeat bio doc premiering on HBO tonight (Monday, February 29). Appearing early in the month\u00c2\u00a0for a sneak preview\u00c2\u00a0at Chicago’s Du Sable Museum, the 76-year-old Chicago […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1974","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/mavisrick.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-vQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":238,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2009\/08\/kencen_best_jazz_presenter_in.html","url_meta":{"origin":1974,"position":0},"title":"Best DC jazz presenter: Kennedy Center","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"August 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Kennedy Center presents more jazz in 2009-10 than all the other US government cultural institutions combined -- some 40 concerts of new and established talent in all styles. No surprise, public performance being the Center's reason for being, while the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution are mandated\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2924,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2021\/08\/city-of-chicago-music-promoter.html","url_meta":{"origin":1974,"position":1},"title":"City of Chicago, music promoter","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"August 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Lollapalooza 2021 had some 385,000 attendees (without significant Covid-19 outbreak, fortunately) but featured little of host Chicago's indigenous talent or styles. And that's just wrong, declared Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events commissioner Mark Kelly, launching the month-long Chicago in Tune Mark Kelly, photos \u00c2\u00a9 Lauren Deutsch \"festival\" at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/MPOK0299-e.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/MPOK0299-e.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/MPOK0299-e.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/MPOK0299-e.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2126,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2016\/09\/african-roots-middle-eastern-extensions-in-hyde-park-jazz-fest.html","url_meta":{"origin":1974,"position":2},"title":"African roots, Middle Eastern extensions in Hyde Park Jazz Fest","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"September 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Pianist Randy Weston, a magisterial musician at age 90 inspired by jazz traditions and its African basics, and trumpeter Amir ElSaffar, who has devoted himself to incorporating the Middle East's\u00c2\u00a0modal, microtonal\u00c2\u00a0maqam\u00c2\u00a0legacy into compositions for jazz improvisation by members of his Two Rivers Ensemble, were highlights of last weekend's 10th annual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Amir_ElSaffar_on-Santur91-c.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":355,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/11\/announcing_eyejazztv_happy_45t.html","url_meta":{"origin":1974,"position":3},"title":"Announcing eyeJAZZ.tv & Happy 45th b’day AACM","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"November 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"eyeJAZZ.tv, a wave of guerrilla video music-news clips being initiated by the Jazz Journalists Association, has posted its first example -- my brief production\u00a0from last week's 45th birthday concert of the AACM featuring composer-saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, flutist and AACM chair Nicole Mitchell (no relation) and saxophonist Ari Brown, at Chicago's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"eJAZZBLU logo.png","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/assets_c\/2010\/11\/eJAZZBLU%20logo-thumb-125x125-18098.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2084,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2016\/08\/mca-chicagos-terrace-concerts-acing-outdoor-presentation.html","url_meta":{"origin":1974,"position":4},"title":"MCA-Chicago’s Terrace concerts, acing outdoor presentation","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"August 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Chicago's\u00c2\u00a0Museum of Contemporary Art has aced outdoor music presentations with its Tuesdays on the Terrace series, most recently featuring\u00c2\u00a0the string trio Hear In Now performing strong yet sensitive chamber jazz. 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