Aretha, Sitting In

Terell Stafford reflects on The Queen of Soul’s Legacy

Aretha Franklin had a career that was all at once musically groundbreaking, glass ceiling shattering, and iconic. She was the first female performer to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and was ranked first on Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Singers of All Time” list. Aretha won 18 GRAMMY Awards (including the first eight awards given for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance). Here, Terell Stafford, Artistic Director for Jazz of The Philly POPS, remembers Aretha.

How We Met

Shortly after I moved to New York City, I was in the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and fellow jazz trumpeter Byron Stripling (today’s conductor!) hired me to play “Respect” and a few other songs with Aretha on the Rosie O’Donnell show.

It was like heaven. She treated rehearsal like a performance and that raised the bar for all of the musicians. She does the song in a very tricky key which doesn’t faze her because she’s such a great musician and pianist. Of course, I was a nervous wreck playing with Aretha Franklin on a television show – it took a lot of focus and concentration, but it went well.

The Blue Note

A few years later, I was in a group called the Dizzy All-Stars playing at the Blue Note in New York City. During the set, we saw all this commotion in the club and it turned out to be Aretha and her entourage! We were playing Dizzy Gillespie tunes and she loved Dizzy. She sat right in front of me and that’s when she started calling me “Philly.” She asked us to play at some of her upcoming events and told the group’s leader: “Whatever you do, I want ‘Philly’ to be there.”

Our first gig was at her 72 nd birthday party at the RitzCarlton in New York City. She always wanted to be around good people and good musicians and loved to have events. The room was packed with probably 200 people, including major celebrities like Denzel Washington. By the end of the party, she sat in with the band. She sang and scatted while we played the blues.

Montreal Jazz Festival

After that, Aretha invited us to open for her at the Montreal Jazz Festival. Her performance there was captivating. Her ability to pull in the audience blew me away. There were thousands and thousands of people and she had them all in the palm of her hand. It was a beautiful experience and very special to me. That night in Montreal, she glowed like an angel. It was so powerful.

My Favorite Aretha Song

“Respect,” absolutely. It’s my parents’ favorite song. They were worried that I’d have a hard life as a musician, but then all of a sudden I’m playing their favorite song on television with Aretha and they thought “OK, it’s time to give this music stuff a chance!”

The Queen of Soul’s Legacy

When you grow up performing in your church like Aretha (and I) did, you start to see the healing power of music. It’s not about the notes or lyrics, but the spirit behind the music. That’s what they mean by Soul music and Aretha was the Queen of Soul.

That influence was a part of her music from when she was growing up until when she passed away. There’s sometimes a stereotype about church musicians not being able to read music, but Aretha proved that wrong: she studied classical piano and graduated from Juilliard.

She was respected everywhere on the highest level. And her voice was so special. I don’t think I’ve heard a voice like it – the resonance, the power, her vibrato, her delivery, everything, she was the perfect package. She set the bar very high and left a legacy for everyone to follow.