Aretha Franklin: Westbury Music Fair, Westbury NY

ARETHA FRANKLIN is so far beyond having anything to prove that it would be easy to excuse her if she just wanted to go through the motions on stage. When her recordings in 1967 with producer Jerry Wexler fused Franklin's imploring gospel-rooted singing with graceful, muscular rhythm and blues arrangements, they called it soul music. Not for the first time, perhaps, but Aretha became soul's embodiment and definition: Lady Soul.