Charles Bradley to bare his soul at Union Transfer
Charles Bradley says he still knows 58 James Brown songs, embedded in his mind and body from the years he spent in New York City impersonating the Godfather of Soul. But when the 67-year-old goes onstage these days, he's doing Bradley, not Brown. The dynamic performer, who just released his third and best album, Changes, comes Sunday to Union Transfer.
Charles Bradley says he still knows 58 James Brown songs, embedded in his mind and body from the years he spent in New York City impersonating the Godfather of Soul. But when the 67-year-old goes onstage these days, he's doing Bradley, not Brown. The dynamic performer, who just released his third and best album, Changes, comes Sunday to Union Transfer.
Changes is an apt title. Bradley's life, recounted in the 2012 film Soul of America, has been full of trials. In a phone interview before a performance in Newcastle, England, Bradley told stories that recounted the murder of his brother and a soul-crushing encounter with a racist police officer who threatened his life (and how he found reassurance when the Eagles' "Take It to the Limit" came on the jukebox). He also rejoices in his late-life relationship with his mother, from whom he was estranged for decades.
The title track on Changes is a startling cover of the Black Sabbath song that Bradley turns into a wrenching soul ballad.
"Sometimes, when I sing that song, oh my God, it's like the heavens in my soul just opened up," he says. "I had never heard of that song, never knew that song, but when I learned the lyrics of it, it was a memory that fitted with the hardships of my life, and I heard the hardships of when my mother passed away. I use that song for my cry for her. I found my soul connected to that song."
It's a classic loop: Finding a connection between his soul and a song, he's able to transmit that connection to the audience. It's both conscious and spontaneous.
"If you asked me to sing something to you right now, I can't do it. I've got to let the spirit get into it. I can't 'force sing' for you," he says. "Once I know my name is called and I go out onstage, I've got to go spiritually. I say a little prayer: 'God, this is the talent that you give me, let me go out there with open arms and open love and give it to the world.' That's it."
Changes adds a few more modern touches than were found on 2011's No Time For Dreaming or 2013's Victim of Love. He's still working with guitarist Tom Brenneck and other members of the Daptone Records crew, but they've subtly updated their soul-revival styles with some extra reverb here, some hip-hop rhythms there. The album is still full of deep funk and soul, the stuff that prompts Bradley to break out his James Brown dance moves.
"If the music is funky and nice feeling, I'm going to get out and put the body with it," he says. "But if the music isn't giving me that feeling, if it doesn't give me that groove that makes my soul want to do it, I ain't going to [do it]. If you want me to dance, put some real doggone music behind me."
That bodes well for Sunday's performance. There's plenty of "real doggone music" on Changes, and Bradley relishes the opportunity to share it.
"If the music is right, if the lyrics hit my soul, I don't know where it might end up being at, as long as I'm making somebody happy. It's not about the music - it's about the love of your character when the music hits your soul."
Charles Bradley, 8:30 p.m. Sunday at Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St. $23. 215-232-2100, utphilly.com.