I was singing R&B back in 62, before you were born, and your mama too, Bettye LaVette wailed on 2007s Scene of the Crime. LaVettes four decade career serves as a master class on pain, perseverance and refusing to be pigeonholed. Her voice is a precision scalpel that slashes, guts and reinvents, effortlessly going from spine-tingling to heartbreaking in just a few bars. On her genius 2010 release Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook, she makes Ringo Starrs It Dont Come Easy deep, the Moody Blues Knights in White Satin soulful, and ignites the Whos Reign Oer Me, Floyds Wish You Were Here and McCartneys Maybe Im Amazed to a level almost too beautifully painful to take in. With Jon Cleary. MA’CHELL DUMA LAVASSAR
Feb. 3-6, 7:30 p.m., 2011