THINKING ABOUT JAZZ - June 28, 2025 - 1pm - Roberta Flack

Presented by Steve Novosel & Friends

1-3pm ~ Free Admission

Born Roberta Cleopatra Flack on 2/19/1937 in Black Mountain, NC to musician parents, she was a jazz, pop and R&B artist whose genre-bending work won her acclaim from many corners. She was the first artist to win Grammies for Record of the Year in consecutive years. Her father (Laron) was a jazz pianist and her mother (Irene) was a church organist. They moved to Richmond VA before settling in Arlington when Roberta was five. With her first musical experiences coming in church, she started formal piano lessons at age 9. In her early teens she gravitated to classical music and entered numerous competitions. At 15, she won a full musical scholarship at Howard, one of the youngest students to enroll there. Eventually, she changed her focus from piano to voice and became assistant conductor of the university choir. Here she met future collaborator, Donny Hathaway. Before her professional career took off she taught at Banneker, Browne and Rabault Junior High Schools. She gave private lessons out of her home on Euclid Street, NW and began performing evenings and weekend in area clubs. After she was hired at Mr. Henry’s her professional career took off. In 1968 she met Les McCann who helped arrange an audition leading to a contract with Atlantic. Her early recordings were interesting collaborations but did not sell particularly well. When Clint Eastwood used “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” from her debut album, First Take, for his debut directorial effort, Play Misty For Me, that her career really took off. When Atlantic released it as a single it became the biggest hit of 1972. First Take also went to # 1. She collaborated again with Eastwood on other of his films.

From 1972-79, she collaborated with Donnie Hathaway yielding numerous gold hits. On her own, Killing Me Softly went to #1 in 1973; Making Love in 1974. After Hathaway’s death in 1979, devastated, she released an album of their duets. She worked with Peabo Bryson in the 80’s and produced popular tunes in other collaborations, including TV and film work. In 1999, her star was placed in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She influenced the subgenre of R&B called “quiet storm” and interpreted music by Leonard Cohen and members of the Beatles. She lived at the Dakota next door to John Lennon and Yoko Ono. She continued to perform into her 80’s. In 1965, she married Steve Novosel, a union disapproved by both sets of parents. This was before the 1967 Loving decision which made bans on interracial marriage unconstitutional. They remained married for seven years but were life-long friends. Steve will help us understand Roberta in this fascinating presentation.