HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF ETTA JAMES?
MUSE/IQUE SCHOOLS US IN SOUL

Presented by MUSE/IQUE at The Huntington Library and The Skirball

MUSE/IQUE’s concerts have never been simple performances; they’re living history lessons that turn scholarship into celebration. Under the meticulous leadership of Artistic and Music Director Rachael Worby, the Pasadena-based ensemble has carved a niche for itself by teaching history through live performance — re-evaluating cultural icons and the eras that shaped them. Their latest program, Have You Ever Heard of Etta James?, fits perfectly into that mission, examining not only the music but the remarkable life of the woman born Jamesetta Hawkins in 1938, the daughter of a 14-year-old who left her to be raised by others in South Central Los Angeles.

From choir pews to the Chitlin’ Circuit, Etta James’s journey embodies the full American paradox — from poverty to power, gospel to rock, repression to self-invention. Worby, drawing on extensive research, guided the audience through this history with a concert that was as much anthropology as artistry.

Fresh arrangements of James’s hits were crafted by bassist Michael Valerio (Principal Arranger and Special Advisor to the Music Director), with contributions from resident arrangers Rob Schaer on trumpet and Jamey Tate on drums. The night’s electrifying vocalists — Vanessa Bryan, LaVance Colley, Gaby Moreno, and the DC6 Singers Collective — delivered performances that honored the past while reinventing it for the present.

The evening began in the pews, with a gospel-powered “This Little Light of Mine,” recalling Etta’s formative years in the 150-member Echoes of Eden choir at St. Paul Baptist Church, whose weekly broadcasts first put her voice on the airwaves. From there, the concert followed her into the world of Central Avenue clubs, where she absorbed Billie Holiday’s melancholy and jump-blues swagger. Moreno’s “God Bless the Child” shimmered with vulnerability, and Bryan’s “The Man I Love” echoed Etta’s early torch-song phase.

Worby’s narration connected the biographical dots with historical perspective: how bandleader Johnny Otis discovered Etta in San Francisco, renamed her, and launched Etta James and the Peaches; how she toured the segregated South on the Chitlin’ Circuit, blending genres with fearless abandon; and how she ultimately defined Chess Records’ Chicago sound. Colley’s incendiary “Lucille” captured the wild energy of her Little Richard days, while the classics — “At Last,” “If I Can’t Have You,” “Something’s Got a Hold on Me,” and “I’d Rather Go Blind” — reminded us why James’s voice remains one of the most flexible instruments in popular music.

But the concert didn’t stop at nostalgia. It explored her artistic second acts, from the Sunset Strip to the soul revival of the 1980s. Moreno’s blistering “Ball and Chain,” performed in homage to Janis Joplin, demonstrated the reach of James’s influence, while Worby’s contextual storytelling underscored her resilience — a woman who fought her way through addiction, industry bias, and public reinvention.

The finale brought the audience to its feet: a rousing, full-chorus “When the Saints Come Marching In,” echoing James’s triumphant performance at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Under Worby’s direction, the crowd sang along, embodying the concert’s message — that American music is inseparable from the struggle and survival that shaped it.

Have You Ever Heard of Etta James? wasn’t merely a tribute; it was an education wrapped in electricity — the kind of vibrant, historically aware storytelling that defines MUSE/IQUE’s purpose.

MUSE/IQUE closes its year with the After Party at the historic Biltmore Hotel’s Crystal Ballroom on November 16, before launching its 2026 season.

photos courtesy of MUSE/IQUE

Have You Ever Heard of Etta James? The Guts and Triumph of An American Icon
MUSE/IQUE
reviewed Sunday, October 19 at The Skirball Cultural Center