Photo provided by Myriam Santos

Leave it to one of Chicago’s finest, internationally-regarded musical institutions to link up with a legendary homegrown heroine, who’s equally lauded all around the globe.

It was indeed a match made in heaven when Mavis Staples returned to Symphony Center’s Orchestra Hall to tape an upcoming PBS special, armed with her latest long-player, “We Get By,” along with the newly unearthed album, “Carry Me Home,” a collaboration with The Band’s late Levon Helm.

The acoustically immaculate venue was the ideal vehicle for the gospel and R&B icon’s unmistakable voice, who at 83-years-old, still possesses a remarkably mighty, smoky howl, the spunk of someone half her age and a lifetime’s worth of spreading “happiness, inspiration and positive vibrations.”

She began a nearly 90-minute overview towards the beginning of an illustrious career that dates back to the 1950s, via a cover of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” in the style of The Staple Singers and the family group’s golden days on Stax Records.

The Rock and Roll Hall Of Famer and tireless civil rights activist, who sung at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration and marched alongside the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., also revisited many others from that socially conscious era, including “I’m Just Another Soldier,” “Handwriting On The Wall” and “Respect Yourself.”

Along with a three-piece band and two background singers, Staples also demonstrated the rare ability to make other artists’ material feel like her own, such as Funkadelic’s “Can You Get To That” and Talking Heads’ “Slippery People.”

Though the headliner didn’t touch on her fertile time with Prince, which included work together on her comeback collection, “Time Waits For No One,” and his movie, “Graffiti Bridge,” she did emphasize work with a few other notables, including Wilco front man/fellow local Jeff Tweedy and Ben Harper.

Latter day tracks “Who Told You That,” “Change,” “Anytime” and “No Time For Crying” possessed a similar spark and galvanizing spirit as earlier classics, while channeling her much-needed perspectives on current societal issues.

In spite of all the wisdom Staples had to share, the Symphony Center ultimately showered their praises upon simply the performer herself, not only for giving them so much substance and sustenance, but out of sheer reverence for being in the presence of such a pioneer.

For additional information on Mavis Staples, visit MavisStaples.com.

Upcoming concert highlights at the Symphony Center include Anne-Sophie Mutter & Mutter Virtuosi (Feb. 5); Shani Conducts Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances (Feb. 9-11); Parisian Perspectives (Feb. 13); Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Feb. 14); Mäkelä Conducts López Bellido & Mahler 5 (Feb. 16-18); Inspiring Voices with Casarrubios & Golijov (Feb. 20); Muti, Fischer & Tchaikovsky Manfred (Feb. 23-25) and Marc-André Hamelin (Feb. 26). For additional details, visit CSO.org.

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