Richie Havens and Me…

I came up in Brooklyn singing doo-wop music from the time I was 13 to the time I was 20. That music served a purpose of keeping a lot of people out of trouble, and also it was a passport from one neighborhood to another.
Richie Havens

Something Else Again (1968) signed by Richie

I remember the first time I was booked into a jazz club. I was scared to death. I'm not a jazz artist. So I got to the club and spotted this big poster saying, 'Richie Havens, folk jazz artist.' Then I'd go to a rock club and I'm billed as a 'folk rock performer' and in the blues clubs I'd be a 'folk blues entertainer.’

Richie Havens

Mixed Bag (1966) signed by Richie

Straight outta Brooklyn, Richie Havens stood 6'6" with large hands, long, slender fingers. and a voice that was equally gruff, soulful and mesmerizing. He played a distinctive rhythmic guitar style (with open tuning), his fingers easily covering the frets, and his thumb blocking chords on the neck of his guitar. It was an unusual technique but very effective. And Richie was so percussive while strumming frenetically that he broke many guitar strings.

Richie is best known for his transcendent performance at Woodstock on August 15, 1969. He was the first performer at this legendary concert. As Richie said later, "I opened the Woodstock Festival even though I was supposed to be fifth. I said, 'What am I doing here? No, no, not me, not first!' I had to go on stage because there was no one else to go on first - the concert was already two-and-a-half hours late." Indeed, Sweetwater, an LA band, missed their scheduled opening due to traffic and an unexpected visit from the police, thereby insuring Sweetwater's place in the mists of music obscurity.

Alarm Clock (1970) signed by Richie

As an encore at Woodstock, Richie's genius was to incorporate the old spiritual "Motherless Child" with lyrics which he improvised. As he explained, "I'd already played every song I knew and I was stalling, asking for more guitar and mic, trying to think of something else to play – and then it just came to me...The establishment was foolish enough to give us all this freedom and we used it in every way we could." Thus was born the iconic "Freedom" which catapulted Richie to stardom and became one of the highlights when the movie Woodstock was released. It is the first live performance in the 1970 Academy Award winning documentary directed by Michael Wadleigh (and edited by Martin Scorsese among several others). Thereafter, "Freedom" became an anthem, admonition and showstopper at most Richie Havens' performances.

I saw Richie perform many times over the years in many different cities and locations and he was a riveting performer. Although a skilled songwriter ("Follow", "Handsome Johnny", "Freedom", "Handouts In The Rain" etc.), Richie was a pre-eminent interpreter of other artists' material. In his deft hands and with his sturdy vocals, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and even Billie Holiday never sounded so fresh and original.

The Great Blind Degree (1971) signed by Richie

The first time I saw Richie was at Jonathan Swift's, a small, basement club in Cambridge, Massachusetts in Harvard Square, seats maybe 150. Richie was touring and showcasing his latest release Connections (1980) which had great songs like Stevie Nicks' "Dreams", Tom Waits' "Ol' 55", and Bob Seger's "We've Got Tonight." About midway through the set Richie paused and said, "You know I've been playing and singing music for a long time. There's a lot of talk about New Wave and Punk music today. That seems what all the kids listen to....well, I just heard a song, a beautiful song, which I would like to play for you. It's songs like this that make me know that everything's gonna be alright." He then played "The Boys Are Back In Town", Thin Lizzy's cock rock, bar room anthem. But Richie totally reinvented and subverted the song, as he played it lovingly and caressed it as a lullaby sung to a child. It was an amazing transformation and a remarkable performance.

Nearly twenty five years later, I saw Richie again in Westport, CT. He played a great set including his sublime take on Van Morrison's "Tupelo Honey" which he segued magically into Bob Dylan's "Just Like A Woman." And, of course, the encore was an emphatic "Freedom" which electrified the crowd and closed the show.. Afterwards, we visited and he signed some albums. I told him that I had seen him many times over the years and loved his music. I told him that the one cover which he needed to record was a song I heard him play at Jonathan Swift's, "The Boys Are Back In Town." He laughed a throaty rasp and threw up his hands, "Yes, I should record that."

Sadly, he never did, but Richie left behind an amazing catalog of songs and wonderful performances.