CD Review: Lauren White and the Quinn Johnson Trio’s “Ever Since the World Ended”
Gerry Geddes
It is a singular pleasure to come across a new jazz release that honors the style and class of an old school album while offering a fresh and exhilarating selection of songs and a personal point of view. That is exactly what Ever Since the World Ended from Lauren White and The Quinn Johnson Trio offers a...
CD Review: Tanya Dennis’s “White Sails Blue Skies”
Lisa Jo Sagolla
A romantically mellow, one-mood CD, Nashville-based singer-songwriter Tanya Dennis’s White Sails Blue Skies is a recording you shouldn’t give up on too soon because, despite their emotional sameness, its tracks grow increasingly more interesting, musically, as the album progresses. Produced and arranged by Dennis, the recording—featuring seven of her own compositions, plus two covers—evolved as...
Critical Thoughts: Performers Take Heed! Cabaret Is Back, and So Are Its Faux Pas
Gerry Geddes
After a year and a half of pandemic-induced exile, cabaret performance is at last returning to New York. It has been rewarding to attend a club, imbibe a two-drink minimum and, perhaps, a meal, while being entertained by established performers flexing their long dormant muscles and by newcomers making their long- delayed debuts. I have...
CD Review: Wilma Baan’s “So Nice”
Gerry Geddes
Wilma Baan’s new CD, So Nice, arrives just in time to combat the dog days of summer. This tasteful grouping of standards from the vocal jazz repertoire is a low-key, savvy, delightful refreshment, almost able to conjure breezes where there are none. The singer is assured and comfortable in her surroundings—nothing to prove, nothing to...
Club Review: Amber Iman
Gerry Geddes
Amber Iman (Photo: Joanna Degeneres) Her strong, range-y voice and statuesque looks make it no surprise that actress/singer Amber Iman is an award-nominated performer with a burgeoning career in theatre, including Broadway’s Soul Doctor (as Nina Simone), the National Tour of Hamilton, and various off-Broadway and regional productions. She has also...
CD Review: The Chris Saunders Band’s “Dancing with the Widow St. James”
Lisa Jo Sagolla
Multi-hyphenates are not uncommon on the cabaret scene. Yet while singer-songwriters who also play piano or guitar are easily found, a multi-gifted artist like Chris Saunders is unusual. Hailing from the San Francisco Bay area, he’s an exquisite trumpeter who also sings and composes in blues, soul, and Latin jazz styles. His band’s latest CD,...
Return Engagements: Singer Meg Flather Remains Stuck with a Thing Called Hope
Mark Dundas Wood
(Third and final installment of a limited series on Return Engagements.) Meg Flather On February 21, 2020, singer-songwriter Meg Flather performed her first-ever gig at Manhattan’s Beach Café. She was, at the time, about to put into gear another, more focused show—about Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The Beach engagement...
Club Review: André De Shields’ “Black by Popular Demand (A Musical Meditation on How Not To Be Eaten by The Sphinx)”
Penelope Thomas
Three women emerged silently in low light from the back of the house; winding between café tables, eyes scanning the horizon, parasols aloft; the pianist and percussionist shimmered a soundscape for them as they made their way to the stage; everyone had a hat. Freida Williams and André De Shields (Photo: Lia...
Club Review: Tina Scariano’s “Feels Like Home”
Gerry Geddes
Tina Scariano Tina Scariano has a terrific voice with a pleasingly effective vibrato. It would not be out of the realm of possibility to imagine her one day being feted like the artists she featured in Feels Like Home, her new show at The Green Room 42. Therefore, it was most disappointing...
Club Review: Alex Leonard and The Sutton Place Trio
Penelope Thomas
Alex Leonard “What Is This Thing Called Love?” is a deceptively simple 1929 Cole Porter tune that alternates major and minor chords, and is a perennial favorite of jazz musicians. Pianist and singer Alex Leonard set it up as a ballad, sliding in on lead vocals for the first verse, then...
