WHERE TO BEGIN WITH… Stevie Wonder (best performances)
Stevie Wonder (born 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan) is everywhere in our culture, and is here to stay. His performances too! Who could pretend they ever had a major life moment (or even several ones) in which Stevie’s music wasn’t present?
Let’s not insult your intelligence: this article is not the occasion to make you discover his music, but to broaden your horizons and enrich your relationship with its music and humanity… the live way.
Let’s get enchanted (once again, before next time).
Music can measure how broad our horizons are. My mind wants to see to infinity.
– Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder and John Legend - The Way You Make Me Feel (Michael Jackson)
This interpretation of Michael Jackson’s The Way You Make Me Feel might be one of Stevie Wonder’s most emotional moment of his career.
Happening during Michael Jackson’s Memorial Service in 2016, this outstanding rendition was magnified by John Legend’s professional and reliable vocal backing.
Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles - Living for the City
Living for the City is an award-winning song, but this performance takes it to a whole new level. Originally released as a single for the Innervisions album, Stevie Wonder shares the song’s parts with Ray Charles, who spent his life popularizing country and soul music too.
The two artists deliver their own interpretation of the song with their own distinctive, percussive style. This live version of Living for the City also shows the physicality one can have with their instrument. A communicative treat for your eyes and soul. Ike & Tina Turner’s version is worth your time, too.
Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. And the longer a song has existed in our lives, the more memories we have of it.
– Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder - Giant Steps improvisation (John Coltrane)
We can’t close this article without highlighting this gem. John Coltrane’s Giant Steps is one of the most feared and respected standards in jazz and popular music. Stevie Wonder and its legendary ease take this standard to the mental worlds of entertainment and fun.
Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand.
– Stevie Wonder
Written by Marc Louis-Boyard for Slow Culture.
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