Rain Pryor

November 5, 2015

Rain PryorJazz and comedy rarely work together as well as they do in Rain Pryor’s “Divorced, Dangerous, Diva-licious” at the Iridium. Carrying on the tradition of her father, legendary comic Richard Pryor, she is hilarious in her self-deprecating survey of her life, romantic and otherwise. But the soundtrack she chooses for this story is what makes it special. Pryor has vocal chops to spare and she picks a number of iconic jazz and blues numbers to play off her journey from naïve and quickly heartbroken girl into a strong, self-reliant woman.

It is a bit disconcerting to see her wicked smile at seemingly inopportune moments in her opening number, T-Bone Walker’s “Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad”), until one realizes there is method to this madness; this realization comes a bit slowly because this marriage of stand-up and jazz vocals is so unusual. She is editorializing on the traditions and myths of the “woman’s lot” in so many classic songs, but not in introductory patter or post-song epilogue, but while she is actually singing the songs. This is risky business by any stretch of the imagination, but she makes it work again and again.

In an unusually strong arrangement of “A Day in the Life of a Fool” (Luiz Bonfá, Carl Sigman) she starts with a fairly straight vocal that evolves into an abrasive attack on her inability to let a man go. It becomes so personal that it seems natural rather than intrusive when, at the end, she spits out, “…a day in the life of a psycho fool.” I usually don’t go for this kind of lyric change/addition but she won me over. On “Stormy Weather” (Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler) and “All I Could Do Was Cry” (Billy Davis, Berry Gordy, Gwen Gordy) she captures every classic bluesy moment while at the same time rejecting each insinuation of self-pity or despair. Her sparkling, swinging performance of “The Lady Is a Tramp” (Rodgers & Hart) transforms it into a song of self-acceptance and a stirring declaration of emotional freedom. A very smart, angular, yet still romantic, rendition of the same team’s “My Funny Valentine” would have made Gil Scott-Heron proud. “Summertime” (George Gershwin, DuBose Heyward) becomes a hopeful prayer, not only for a change of seasons, but for a change in her life. By the time she gets to her closer, Bernard Ighner’s “Everything Must Change,” that prayer has been transformed into a fierce and celebratory embrace of what is to come. I’ve rarely heard this song done better.

Music director-arranger Jerry DeVore on electric bass, Zach Lapidus on piano, and Russell Carter on drums contribute greatly to both the uniqueness and the success of the show. Even the most basic of arrangements are played with style and flair.

Pryor’s comic asides (including a spot-on impression of her father reacting to the news that she is marrying a Baltimore cop, comments on one of her failed marriages, and a razor-sharp skewering of “neo-soul” and its newly minted clichés) are perfect palate cleansers between the musical re-inventions. I have only two real complaints. First, the show is too short; it needs to be fleshed out with a few more songs. Second, that word “diva-licious” is so lame that it doesn’t belong in the title of a show so modern and so well done.

I heard traces of Etta James, Big Mama Thornton, Moms Mabley, and, especially, Millie Jackson throughout the set, but Rain Pryor is most definitely her own woman with her own voice. Her investigation of what popular music and popular culture have imposed on women’s lives and relationships, through the filter of her own journey, makes her New York cabaret debut a cause for celebration. She will hopefully be returning to the Iridium stage soon.

“Divorced, Dangerous, Diva-licious”
Iridium  –  October 24

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About the Author

Gerry Geddes has conceived and directed a number of musical revues—including the Bistro- and MAC Award-winning "Monday in the Dark with George" and "Put On Your Saturday Suit-Words & Music by Jimmy Webb"—and directed many cabaret artists, including André De Shields, Helen Baldassare, Darius de Haas, and drag artist Julia Van Cartier. He directs "The David Drumgold Variety Show," currently in residence at Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, and has produced a number of recordings, including two Bistro-winning CDs. He’s taught vocal performance at The New School, NYU, and London’s Goldsmith’s College and continues to conduct private workshops and master classes. As a writer and critic, he has covered New York’s performing arts scene for over 40 years in both local and national publications; his lyrics have been sung by several cabaret and recording artists. Gerry is an artist in residence at Pangea, and a regular contributor to the podcast “Troubadours & Raconteurs.” He just completed a memoir of his life in NYC called “Didn’t I Ever Tell You This?”