Hi Martha! How are you?
I?m happy. I got plenty time to speak to you.
You?re due to play Cheltenham jazz festival (1) ? are you planning a jazz-influenced set?
Well, every song Motown ever recorded me on was performed by jazz musicians. So every one of my songs can be considered jazz, because of the musicianship and the artistry of the players. It wasn?t made with noisy toys ? it was made by real live, professional jazz musicians. As for the show ? I haven?t the faintest idea of singing anything but my hits.
One of those hits was Nowhere to Run, which Lamont Dozier says was inspired by looking out of his window and seeing tanks rolling down the street ...
One of my desires is to sit with Holland, Dozier, Holland and ask them what the stories of songs like Come and Get These Memories, Heatwave, Jimmy Mack and Nowhere to Run were. I want to ask them what was in their mind. I know why I sang them, I have my own interpretation to feel those songs from my soul, but what inspired them? Did they remember why?
A lot of 60s music chimed with the civil rights movement. Do you see a parallel with what happened back then and the tensions on American streets at the moment?
I?m not going to say that a lot of stuff that is being played on the air these days is music. It?s a bunch of people doing a lot of talking, and they?re talking to toys ? Pro Tools. There?s not a pride for the musicianship, or learning to play things. A lot of the Motown songs are soothing, a lot of the songs I sang make my heart happy.
But there?s also a place for angry music?
You can blame some of the incidents now on some of the music. But it?s about their attitude. If you want to elevate your attitude, to reach a certain latitude, then you?ve got the right idea. I know a lot of things I?ve heard lately on the radio cause people to be angry, and it?s not their own anger, they were sharing somebody else?s anger. We all have an assignment, and my assignement is to make music to enlighten, to enrich, to inspire, to be liked. And that?s not the intention of a lot of music today ? I don?t think a lot of it is music.
In 2013 you wrote a moving obituary for the Observer about Motown?s head of artist development, Maxine Powell, who ?taught us how to dance with our feet ... today, a lot of women in this business dance with their bodies?.
I make a joke that they told me at Hitsville USA that if I kept my clothes on I could continue to perform! You don?t have to criticise as long as you?re in proper order. But I do think there are some nude performances of late that don?t have anything to do with enlightening or encouraging or giving anybody joy. (Laughs) It might be something else, but it might not be joy!
Footnotes
1) Cheltenham jazz festival runs from 29 April to 4 May
2) In his defence, he had a song to write ... for Marvin Gaye
3) Martha was born in Eufaula, Alabama