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Coming away last Tuesday from Paula West’s annual visit to the famed Oak Room, I was left with decidedly mixed feelings. Her rare care and attention to the lyrics – especially those of Cole Porter and Dylan - were succinct and satisfying, but the ballads (and there were but a few) never did hit the spot.
This may be due to her ultra professionalism, which although very welcome, showed an economy of emotional risk taking. An upside to this was that she made no unreasonable demands of her audience – such as introducing political ideology, or the tedious, sometimes embarrassing personal tales that many others performers use, thus holding us hostage.
Although most noted as a Jazz-Cabaret artist, her best vocal bits were in the pop songs (“All I Really Want To Do”) and novelty numbers (“Iko, Iko”). Her alternately soothing and humorous delivery of those two numbers was free of the strain that I picked up in many of the other numbers.
This is not to say that Ms. West is lacking in voice, as she does possess a burnished bronze sound, not unlike a Dinah Washington. She did take some welcome chances with her material, but some were of an odd intellectual nature. My least favorite was the 18th Century “Drink to me Only With Thine Eyes.” She colored her voice with curious affect, and turned it into a blues number with forced high notes and militaristic key modulations. I do not believe that her hardened high notes were from serious vocal issues, but from an overly cautious approach that can actually squeeze the voice. If she smoothes out the registers and really taps into her subconscious more, these issues could lessen.
All the above issues disappeared almost magically by the end of the evening, when she finally let loose and opened up with some breadth and spin. The connection that was lacking during the body of the show, was overcome with her triumphant “I’m in Love Again.”
George Mesterhazy’s pianism was creamily liquid with the band sounding unusually rich for a four piece ensemble. Although Jerome Jennings was just noted as the drummer, I could swear I heard some percussion emanating from the band stand, deepening the vibe most pleasantly. |
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