Keys Opens "Diary" in L.A.

Alicia Keys' debut album Songs in A Minor caught on in a big way with a listening public anxious to embrace a young entertainer who could both play an instrument (piano) and sing. On Wednesday at the Highlands in Hollywood, Keys took to her piano bench to promote her upcoming follow-up, The Diary of Alicia Keys.

Dressed in a spangly jacket and jeans, Keys offered a sneak preview of the album that drops December 2nd, before an audience that included Stevie Wonder, Missy Elliott Clay Aiken, Ruben Studdard and Jermaine Dupri.

"Let's take it back," said Keys as an introduction. On a stage lit by clusters of white candles on black wrought iron stands, Keys weaved favorites from her debut such as the runaway hit "Fallin,'" "Rock Wit U," and "A Woman's Worth," into her nine-song set.

Playing it coy before newbie "If I Ain't Got You," Keys teased the crowd, saying "This song means a lot to me, but I'm not gonna talk about it." Sticking to spare arrangements, Keys led with her piano and vocals and used the bass, guitar, drums, keyboard and the three back-up singers in her band as accents, like the occasional group harmony or the short blast of distorted guitar in "Streets of New York."

Keys abandoned the piano for the set closer and album single "You Don't Know My Name," standing up to introduce R&B singers the Moments and joining them at the front of the stage to lead the crowd in a staccato "soul clap." "I want to take this back to the time when harmonies were sweet," she said.

Last night's performance begins a two-week run of promotion that will include a November 24th interview on Primetime Live, several features on Good Morning America, a December 1st appearance on Oprah and back-to-back performances on the The Tonight Show, December 4th and 5th.

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Great Gatsby' Is a Crushing Disappointment
• 
  TV Why You Should Watch 'Happy Endings'
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter