Paula West

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PAULA WEST

“…a swinging pop-jazz sophisticate in the tradition of Lena Horne and Carmen McRae.”… Stephen Holden, The New York Times

“…may be the greatest jazz vocalist to emerge in the past decade.”…Time Out New York

The incomparable Paula West’s annual fall sojourn in the Algonquin’s Oak Room is always an event and an occasion of great anticipation.

Now through November 14^th--. accompanied by the superb George Mesterhazy Quartet, with Barak Mori on bass, Ed Cherry on guitar and Jerome Jennings on drums--Paula will help celebrate the landmark Oak Room’s  30^th anniversary as the city’s “best cabaret.” Her brilliant and varied set includes “the good old ones” (Louis Armstrong) with the best of the new.  Among her offerings are Bob Dylan’s “All I Really Want to Do” and “Maggie’s Farm,”  Cole Porter’s “Nobody’s Chasing Me” and “You’ve Got That Thing,” “The 59^th Street Bridge Song” [“Feelin’ Groovy”] by Paul Simon; “Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes,” by Ben Jonson from a Greek original;  “Where Flamingos Fly” (Harold Courlander/El Thea/John B. Brooks) and “Romance In the Dark” (Lil Green), among others.

All shows are Tuesday through Thursday at 8:30 and Friday and Saturday at 8:30 and 11:00, with a $50 cover charge plus a $60 prix fixe dinner or $30 food and beverage minimum, all per person.

In Paula West’s hands the Great American Songbook has never sounded so captivating.  Her affinity for Dylan and McCartney and other contemporary balladeers demonstrates her “refusal to be bound by categories,” according to The New York Times.  In 2005 and 2006 Paula won the New York Nightlife Award for “Outstanding Female Jazz Vocalist,” having shared the award with Dianne Reeves in 2004.  She has performed abroad in France, Italy, Switzerland and Turkey. Recent appearances include Jazz at Lincoln Center, Jazz Aspen and the White House in a salute to American writers.  Paula’ critically acclaimed CDs include Temptation, Restless and Come What May, which won the California Music Award for Outstanding Jazz Album.