Performance

Old Melvin and the Blue Notes
At the Fisher Theatre, March 26 - 28

Old pro Harold Melvin brought his brand-new Blue Notes into the Fisher Theatre for a three night, six-show stand designed to demonstrate the viability of Melvin's version of one of the most popular singing groups to emerge in recent years. With his former lead singer, the fiery Teddy Pendergrass, now out on his own with the rest of the original Philadelphia International recording group, competing for jobs and popular acclaim in the entertainment marketplace, Harold Melvin is facing perhaps the toughest challenge of his long career. But the evidence displayed opening night at the Fisher indicates that Pendergrass & Co. have a bitter fight on their hands, for Meivin is not about to give up his hard-won status at the lop of the business without an all-out battle, and his new aggregation should turn out to be a very potent weapon indeed.
Following a well-received, highly energetic set by the fast-stepping Sylvers ("Boogie Fever"), and backed by Melvin's "Million Dollar Movement" band augmented by the Fisher Theatre strings and horns, the new Blue Notes unveiled their lead singer, David Ebo, with the aptly-chosen "I Need a Friend." Ebo, who has Pendergrass's size and strut in his favor with Teddy's many fans, still has a long way to go before he can command the total attention of his audience, a feat his predecessor performed with ease. A tour or two under Melvin's painstaking direction, however, should shape his considerable potential into something awesome to behold, since he has all the raw talent, power, and range Melvin's conception demands, and he has the maestro at hand to take him through the changes step ,by step.
It is Harold Melvin's conception, alter all - Pendergrass began five years ago as a drummer in the Blue Notes' back-up band -and the mere existence of the present group on stage is a tribute to its leader's determination to keep his winning combination not only alive, but growing and developing along the lines Melvin has carefully laid out over the years. The continuing success of the Wake Up Everybody single and album- ordinarily a tremendous boon to a performing group - is in this case a sizable liability, since its millions of adherents rightfully expect to see and hear the singers who were on the record when they buy tickets to their concerts. But Melvin has acted swiftly and tastefully to fill the void left by the departure of his well-groomed favorites, and if he can get them through his initial tour in one piece he'll probably end up exactly where he obviously means to be-right where he was headed before Pendergrass split.
Harold followed Ebo's introductory feature with his own lead-announced as "the mature voice of our mature leader" by one of the Notes -on the popular "To Be True," bringing Ebo back to the fore in a poorly-chosen "If You Don't Know Me By Now," which, in addition to its meaningless lyrics in this context, suffered from Ebo's own present limitations as a hot lead singer. The arrangement also dragged considerably, and when the orchestra continued to undercut the vocalists on the next number, "Take Me Back," Melvin could be seen personally tightening up the rhythm section and then the rest of the unit until everybody finally caught a classic Blue Notes groove.
Ebo next took a shot at "Wake Up, Everybody," a magnifícent gamble on Melvin's part which paid off much better than one would have expected as the tall, arrogantly sensuous Ebo worked his way through the Pendergrass tour-de-force with energy and guts. What he lacked was the supreme confidence and mature grace of Mr. Teddy Bear, but six months on stage with this combination will go a long way toward bringing the young Ebo up to par..
The musically inconsequential Sharon Paige was brought on next to sing "Hope We Can Be Together Soon" and "You Know How To Make Me Feel So Good," two tender numbers that benefitted greatly from Melvin's soft-core staging which had Ms. Paige turning indecisively from Ebo to Melvin us the two men crooned their pleas for her sumptuous company. Sharon danced off as Melvin whipped the band into "the national anthem," the irresistible "Bad Luck," which combined Ebo's best vocal effort of the evening with some stunning choreography by the Notes before Ebo was left alone to keep the groove going. A rousing return by the singers took the song and the concert out, leaving the audience pondering over the group's performance and ready for the next step: the first Detroit appearance of the Teddy Pendergrass ensemble. Until then. Harold Melvin & the new Blue Notes -with Sharon Paige have set the mark against which the popular Teddy Bear and company will have to be measured, and it should prove to be a high mark to hit.

- John Sinclair