All-Star Lineup Puts on Soulful Benefit for Rain Forest

The theme of the 10th annual Rainforest Foundation benefit Thursday night was respect, both for the environment and for soul, a musical genre that has profoundly influenced the show’s performers.

Almost every song in the delightfully engaging concert was a soul classic, from the aching “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” to the buoyant “It Takes Two.” And in an appropriate and emotional tribute to the genre, the core performing group of aging white male pop stars--Sting, Elton John, Billy Joel, James Taylor and Tom Jones--shared the spotlight with some of soul’s greatest living performers, including Sam Moore and Gladys Knight. Most of them had never graced Carnegie Hall’s stage.

The entire cast, joined by surprise guest Stevie Wonder, gathered for a rousing finale of “Respect” and the gospel-flavored “Amen.” In a deft move, the 12-piece house band included saxophonist Branford Marsalis in the driving, Memphis-style horn section, and songwriter and sessions man Steve Cropper of the seminal Stax Records, who co-wrote many of the night’s songs, on guitar.

Nearly four decades after he began touring in the erstwhile duo Sam & Dave, Moore’s voice remains resonant and commanding. He was wrenchingly tender on the ballad “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” which he paced with emphatic pauses, and brassy and sassy on the classic “Soul Man,” which he sang with Taylor while Blues Brother Dan Aykroyd shuffled nearby.

Taylor, however, is no soul man. His warm and cuddly vocals just don’t project enough lowdown pain or fiery sensuality. Ditto, for the most part, for the wispy-voiced Sting.

Jones, however, was made for soul. Forget that “What’s Up, Pussycat?” stuff. His full-bodied voice, tinged with longing, was the perfect vehicle for “Hold On, I’m Coming,” a Sam & Dave hit that he performed with Moore in punchy point-counterpoint.

Joel was equally impressive with a cover of “Try a Little Tenderness” that was at once rocking and imploring. Percy Sledge delivered a passionate “When a Man Loves a Woman” and an earthy Martha Reeves, with John and the butter-smooth Impressions serving as Vandellas, shook and shimmied up a storm with Ricky Martin while dishing out “Dancing in the Street.”

A gracious yet feisty Knight put the crowd on “A Midnight Train to Georgia.” Flamboyant soul neophyte Macy Gray, dressed in glittering red Supafly garb, would have done justice to “Baby, I Love You” had her microphone been turned up; her helium-rasp vocals never reached the upper balconies.

Despite the plethora of tuxes and evening gowns, the show, organized by Rainforest Foundation co-founders Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler, was filled with engaging camaraderie. Joel hammed it up with a jerky soft-shoe, John paid tribute to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins by belting his “I Put a Spell on You” in ghoulish Hawkins-esque attire, and the male singers, both black and white, delivered a raging “Disco Inferno” in ridiculous green, purple, white and blue Afro wigs.

Martin, departing from the rest of the set list, paid tribute to his Latin influences with a slow, sensual “Light My Fire” (the Jose Feliciano version, not the raucous Doors original) and Tito Puente’s syncopated “Oye Como Va.” His sound may not have been Stax, but his superb timing, magnetic smile and sinewy dance moves were abundantly soulful.