WS Chronicle

By Timothy Cox

Special to The Chronicle

WASHINGTON, D.C. — During an interview on TV One’s “News One Now” featuring host Roland Martin, Lalah Hathaway revealed that she would release her first live album on Oct. 30.

“Lalah Hathaway Live” was recorded at the Troubadour Lounge, the same venue where her father, the late Donny Hathaway, recorded his epic, “Donny Hathaway Live” in 1972.

The historic ambiance of the legendary Howard Theater, a D.C. national landmark, provided the necessary quaintness for the uniquely soulful songstress, Lalah Hathaway on Sept. 28.

She upheld her father’s legacy as another truly gifted American soul artist. Even more, Lalah Hathaway is a musician who comfortably displayed her array of vocals and classical training from Boston’s renowned Berklee College of Music.

During the Howard performance, Lalah opened her set appropriately with a tune recorded by her dad, “Little Ghetto Boy.” She noted to news anchor Martin that the tune’s lyrics aptly coincide with today’s times, sadly enough because of current oppressive occurrences that mirror images of inner city America some 40 years ago.

On TV One, Hathaway revealed that “Little Ghetto Boy” was a tune she grew up with, and always wanted to cover. Thankfully, she’s the one who had the nerve and talent to honor her father by providing us with a solid, respectful rendition of this modern-day classic. She purposely sings the tune in the same key as her late father did on his live classic, she revealed to Martin.

Inspirationally, the 105-year-old Howard venue displays life-size black and white images of music legends such as James Brown, BB King, the great Lena Horne and Ella Fitzgerald. On this night, Hathaway would mimic the great Ella by displaying her gift for scat singing, an art that Ella still has no comparisons. But Hathaway captured the essence of this very challenging style of improvisational jazz vocals.

It’s also hoped that someday soon Lalah will release an album that accompanies her father’s vocals, much like the successful duets that Natalie Cole did with dad Nat King Cole in the early 1990s. The time is just about right for “Hathaway Meets Hathaway.”

In a brief conversation with Lalah’s mother after the show, Eulaulah Hathaway said that she and Donny met at Howard University, a campus located just minutes from the Howard Theater, and that both were music majors.

“Yes, Lalah and her sister Kenya get it [musical genes] from both sides,” she said. She also noted that first-born Lalah is actually named Eulaulah Donyll Hathaway, and that Lalah is third in a generation of family Eulaulahs. Lalah’s grandmother is the original Eulaulah, Mrs. Hathaway said.

Younger sister Kenya also studied music at Berklee, sang regularly on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” and serves as a vocal coach for TV’s “American Idol,” according to Mrs. Hathaway. “We’re proud of both girls,” she added.

For more information and updates about Lalah Hathaway, go to her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LalahHathaway.