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Latifah Delivers A Majestic Performance

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By Curtis Ross, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 9, 2007

CLEARWATER - Rock singers tackling prerock standards have become something of an epidemic in recent years. Leave it to a rapper to show them how it's done.

"I like a challenge," Queen Latifah told The Tampa Tribune in a recent interview, and she seems yet to meet one she can't conquer. She integrated hip hop's boys club in the 1990s before conquering Hollywood with acclaimed roles in "Chicago" and "Hairspray."

She's lately turned her attention to singing and has emerged victorious there as well.

Latifah wowed a Ruth Eckerd Hall crowd of 1,477 Thursday night with a set of jazz, blues, soul and pop.

The 37-year-old artist exhibited not a hint of self-consciousness, even when performing songs old enough to be her great-grandparents'. She sang "Georgia Rose," "Trav'lin' Light," even Billy Strayhorn's technically challenging "Lush Life" as if she had commissioned them.

The show started with a bang, as Latifah took the stage singing "I'm Gonna Live Till I Die," a brash and brassy number associated with Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack heyday. Few singers could have resisted the urge to attack the song, but Latifah held the tune in check with a breezy, confident performance.

She demonstrated her versatility early on, moving gracefully from jazz to blues to funky soul. But her reading of "Georgia Rose," gentle but with an underlying strength, made the first part of the set seem like a warm-up. Were there any nonbelievers in the audience, they surely were converted by then.

"I Know Where I've Been," her showcase number from "Hairspray," showcased her vocal power. Latifah also showed great restraint, never oversinging, serving the song rather than using it as a launchpad for vocal gyrations.

She had fantastic stage presence - funny, warm and intimate, yet strong enough to communicate with the back of the hall.

One minor complaint: Couldn't she have worked in a couple of her hip-hop hits? If anyone could make "Ladies First" or "U.N.I.T.Y." work in a set of soulful standards, it's Latifah.

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