Paula West: Come What MayPaula West: Come What MayIt's been a while since I've had a chance to catch Al Becker's excellent vocal jazz show Voices In The Dark here on KDHX, so I don't know whether he has been playing any of Paula West's albums or not, but I'd be surprised if he hasn't. An accomplished singer with a solid jazz background, West also has the cabaret artist's respect for lyrics. As a result her current show, Come What May, combines the improvisatory spirit of a jazz set with the fidelity to the songwriter's intent that characterizes a good cabaret performance. It's the best of both worlds, in short, and well worth a trip to Grand Center.
West's backup band is a big asset. Bassist Tom Kennedy and drummer Montez Coleman are major lights in the local jazz scene and pianist Bruce Barth has been a fixture in and around New York since 1988, recording over 50 CDs and playing lead on seven. Kennedy shows a virtuoso flair that brought spontaneous applause from the audience on more than one occasion, Coleman brings and infectious sense of fun and a wide range of colors to his percussion work and Barth's pianism combines a strong sense of rhythm and inventiveness. Together, they operate like a well-oiled and joyous machine, and West wisely relinquishes the spotlight numerous times in the evening for their solo breaks.
The repertoire for the Grandel Cabaret show is as varied as you might expect from someone with West's wide spectrum of interests, ranging from jazz standards such as "Blues in the Night" and the geographically appropriate "You Came a Long Way from St. Louis" to cabaret classics like Cole Porter's witty "Can Can" and "Mountain Greenery". Most of the songs will be familiar to jazz and cabaret fans, but there are a few surprises such as Carroll Coates' lovely "You'll See" and Dave Frishberg's verbally facile "Peel Me a Grape". There are also some surprising interpretations, such as Harold Arlen's "If I Only Had a Brain" done as a slow lament, turning what was originally intended as a breezy comedy number into a kind of oddball torch song.
Through it all, West shows a degree of vocal flexibility and virtuosity that is sometimes startling and maintains an easy camaraderie with the audience. Unlike most cabaret performers, though, she does it mainly with music, keeping dialog to the minimum necessary to announce and provide a bit of background for each song. The result is an evening jam packed with great music ‚ eighteen numbers, including a lively version of "Bye Bye Blackbird" as an encore. It's another great evening of cabaret: Paula West in Come What May, at the Grandel Theatre through this Sunday, October 20 [2002] Call 314-533-8825 for ticket information or to find out more about the remaining shows in the Grandel Theatre Cabaret season, which runs through December.