Chaka Khan was born Yvette Marie Stevens on this date in 1953. At age 13 Yvette was given the name Chaka Adunne Aduffe Yemoja Hodarhi Karifi Khan by an African priest. Though there was no Chaka Khan character in the movie Judas and the Black Messiah, she did befriend Fred Hampton in 1967 and joined the Black Panthers. She left the group two years later. Below are thirty things she’s done since then.
Follow Tunes du Jour on Facebook.
Follow Tunes du Jour on Twitter.
Follow me on Instagram.
Having already displayed her vocal chops with soul, funk, ballads and disco, Chaka Khan experiments with jazz on “And the Melody Still Lingers On,” her interpretation of Dizzy Gillespie’s “Night in Tunisia.” Featuring Herbie Hancock and Gillespie himself, as well as a Charlie Parker sample, Chaka and producer Arif Mardin add lyrics that pay tribute to the classic original composition. When it arrived in 1942 “it was new and very strange” but subsequently “paved the way for generations from Coltrane to Stevie.” “The past you can’t ignore, the torch is lit, we’ll keep the flame,” vows Chaka, at once saluting the past while being very much in the present. The performance also foretold her future – one of Khan’s 22 Grammy nominations would be for Best Jazz Vocal Performance in 1983. Seventy-two years after the debut of “Night in Tunisia” and thirty-three years after Chaka’s version, its melody still lingers on.
Tunes du Jour listens to Chaka’s jazzier sides today, her 61st birthday.