Miss Flack Sings Way Into Hearts Of Audience At SPAC

by Bill Rice, The Times Record, September 1, 1972

Singer Roberta Flack seemed to cast a magic spell over the slightly more than 4,000 dedicated fans at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center Thursday evening.

If the vibrant black vocalist never accomplishes another thing in her rapidly rising career, which is highly unlikely, she already has the distinction of having sung one of the most musical ballads ever to appear at the top of the pop music charts, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

Miss Flack’s concert was marked by a reserved dignity which seemed to begin with the professional manner in which her manager presented her to the audience. From there on in her audience treated her with the greatest of respect.

Husky Voice

Her husky and somewhat grainy voice is more in the tradition of gospel singing than jazz, and if we might voice any complaint about her performance, it would only be that it lacks somewhat in variety.

There was nothing really uptempo, most of the songs were ballads or moderate-tempo gospel types.

Miss Flack was backed by what at first seemed a rather large accompanying group for a solo performer, consisting of a drummer, guitarist, another performer on keyboard, both electric and stand-up basses and conga drums, with Miss Flack also accompanying herself primarily on piano.

It soon became apparent however, that this was a well-knit group with a common purpose: to showcase, but never overshadow, the singer.

Miss Flack opened the program playing an instrument we had never heard before, the clavinet, which resembles an electric piano but has something of a guitar sound, giving a country sound to her relaxed opener, Yes I Do.

The concert started around 15 minutes late and the reason was not apparent until the group’s drummer slipped onto the stage midway into the concert’s second song, Sunday and Sister Jones, a plaintive ballad about poor Negro folk living in the Georgia mountains.

It was fortunate he showed up before the next number, Miss Flack’s unusual version of Frankie and Johnny, on which his rimshots were needed to supply gunfire.

Subtle Humor

Miss Flack’s subtle brand of humor came to the surface on this song as it did in the second half on her rendition of the Tennessee Waltz.

One of the most unusual songs she sang was the Ballad of the Sad Young Men, a tune she said came from a Broadway musical called The Nervous Set which lasted all of three hours. The song is actually about homosexuals but she explained that a Black Panther group in California had adopted it as their theme song.

As we listened to her sing it, it was apparent how the same lyrics can sometimes mean different things to dlfferent people.

Some of the other songs performed in the course of the evening were Carole King’s Will You Love Me Tomorrow, Ain’t No Mountains High Enough and, one that was new to us, I Don’t Want No Tears.

Miss Flack had her audience with her all the way and they responded enthusiastically to every song, giving a standing ovation at the concert’s conclusion.

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