On February 29th, 2020, just two weeks before the nationwide quarantine lockdown, Andrew Waite performed to a sold-out room at the Mackenzie Theatre. Without knowing what was to come, the band planned to have the show recorded, and part of what was captured includes this beautiful cover of Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready” featuring Joce Reyome, effectively commemorating some of the last properly live music that many people would see for months to come.
Written in 1965 by Curtis Mayfield and performed by his Doo-wop trio, the Impressions, the spiritually-influenced song has been recognized as one of the most culturally influential songs of all time and even adopted by Martin Luther King Jr.’s as the unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights Movement.
It’s also somewhere near the top of Waite’s list of favourite songs.
“Curtis Mayfield is incredible, and while he is not one of the most played artists on my record player as of late, ‘People Get Ready’ is absolutely one of my favourite songs of all time,” says Waite.
“The show at the Mack back in February was an absolute blast. There’s really not much I would change about it at all. We had a lineup of some of the best musicians around, a fabulous audience, and a top-notch tech crew. The Mack is a lovely venue to perform in, and we really had an awesome night overall.”
Waite notes that had the timing of the show been off by just a day or to it would have most likely had to have been cancelled.
The full line-up for the performance included Nikki Waite (alto sax), Sean Ferris (organ), Evan McCosham (bass), Ian Toms (guitar), Mat MacEachern (drums), Mark Parsons (trumpet), Bob Nicholson (trombone), Peter Wynne (tenor sax), but also featured vocalist Joce Reyome, who stole the show.
“I met Joce a number of years back, and really got to know them when I was music directing a show they were in. Since then, Joce has collaborated with me a number of times for shows, guested at our summer rock camps as a vocal instructor, and has become a close friend of mine. Joce oozes talent and musicianship, and it is always a pure joy to work with them.
“I took a lot of inspiration for the arrangement of ‘People Get Ready’ from Glen Hansard’s performance of it from the Mavis Staples ‘I’ll Take You There‘ concert… and though it wasn’t Mavis singing on that exact rendition, I think it was Staples’ vibe they were going for. If ever I was to reach out to a musical collaborator to channel a Mavis Stables sort of vibe, I would call Joce Reyome, without hesitation.”
While the cover itself is impressive enough as a standalone, Waite says that there are still more videos from that night at The Mack to be released in the future. We’ll just have to wait for them, but considering it’s the closest thing we’ll be getting to a lot of live music for a while…