In February, José James will present a pair of shows celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Marvin Gaye’s I Want You.
The concerts will take place on Friday, February 6, in the Symphony Center at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Saturday, February 7, at the Matthews Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey. The vocalist and composer will be joined at both shows by Grammy-nominated singer Lizz Wright. More special guests will be announced. James has also assembled a world-class live band featuring guitarist Marcus Machado, bassist David Ginyard, and drummer Jharis Yokley.
Gaye released albums at a steady clip throughout the 1960s and ’70s, pretty much one record a year. In 1971, he unveiled a shift in artistic direction with What’s Going On, which commented on social, ecological, and human issues. Gaye followed that album with the 1972 soundtrack to the low-budget blaxploitation crime thriller Trouble Man. 1973’s Let’s Get It On introduced the loverman persona that Gaye would embody for the rest of his career. Three years later, he emerged with his 14th solo album, a bold blend of jazz, funk, R&B, soul, and disco that has had a profound impact on artists then and now.
After struggling to find a direction for his new album, Gaye was revived by meeting Leon Ware, songwriter for Michael Jackson, The Miracles, and Minnie Riperton, among many others. At the time of recording, Gaye was in a long-term romantic affair with Janis Hunter, who had inspired Let’s Get It On. Gaye’s obsession with the younger woman, who he would later marry, likely inspired the carnal desire that flows through I Want You.
The dancing scene of the album’s cover art, a 1971 painting by Ernie Barnes entitled “Sugar Shack,” made Gaye’s intentions for the album abundantly clear: he wanted his listeners to get-down to his erotic fantasies and sensual flights of fancy.
