Lou Rawls Is Still Easy on the Ears--and Soul

Thursday was Valentine’s Day, so it was inevitable that Lou Rawls would sing “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine” at some point during his evening set at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. The only question was when he would get around to the Gamble & Huff soul classic.

When he did, the full-house audience--with Valentine red the most popular color choice for concert attire--let out a collective sigh of relief.

It took Rawls half the program to get to the hit number, but that was OK, since he had already acknowledged the holiday with romantic tunes from the appropriately sweet sentiments of “My Funny Valentine” to the lusty suggestiveness of “Fine Brown Frame.”

Hearing Rawls sing is a bit like slipping on a comfortable pair of old loafers and propping one’s feet up on a hassock.

His voice, with its unique timbre and the emotional catch, is one of the great warm-and-fuzzy sounds of pop and jazz music. He used it with great effectiveness on other ballads too, especially with tunes not ordinarily associated with him, such as “Send in the Clowns” and “Pure Imagination.”

But Rawls, whose roots are deeply embedded in the blues of his Chicago hometown, is a superb rhythm singer as well.

Sprinkled throughout his set was a wide-ranging collection of blues, occasionally in medleys, including both “Goin’ to Chicago” and “Goin’ to Kansas City,” as well as the classic “Stormy Monday Blues.”

He honored his close friendship and musical association with Sam Cooke (who was briefly his manager) via a grouping of three Cooke classics: “You Send Me”; “Wonderful World” (perhaps best known for its repeated phrase, “Don’t know much about ... “); and “Bring It on Home to Me” (which was a duet with Rawls in the original Cooke hit recording).

And he wrapped the evening with a romping, hard-swinging rendition of Willie Dixon’s “Hootchie Coochie Man,” enlivened by his five-piece backup band and the wildly imaginative guitar work of David T. Walker.

For the Valentine’s Day celebrants in the audience, it was a performance with plenty of romantic moments.

For the music lovers, it was Rawls at his best, proving in tune after tune that good singing can stand on its own, without benefit of smoke machines, laser beams, high-decibel sound or wiggling backup singers.