Cole Porter night- easy to love By Shelley Ingram “It was a trip to the moon on gossamer wings” Saturday night at the Dance Palace when singer Noah Griffin performed to a packed house. Griffin, a former politico and San Francisco talk show host is also a brilliant interpreter (as well as a die-hard fan) of the renowned American songwriter, Cole Porter. And on this evening he did more than justice to several of Porter’s most famous songs; even leading a well versed and willing audience in a sing-a-long rendition of “Don’t Fence Me In,” a tune written by but not immediately associated with the urbane Porter. Griffin has the sort of honey toned voice and excellent phrasing that transports you back to a time of tuxedoed men, women in bias cut gowns, chilled cocktails and cigarettes in long lacquered holders. His music goes down as smoothly and is as intoxicating as one of those aforementioned cocktails. Without realizing it, your toe starts to tap and you start swaying to the sound –you look around - so is everyone else in the room. The show could have been a little tighter, and the stage a little larger – the limited space made it a bit of a challenge for the vocalists to get to center stage, but that didn’t limit the quality of the entertainment. Griffin and his two guest vocalists all have exceptional voices. Deborah Winters sang a version of “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” that would have made Mary Martin proud. (Martin was the originator of the song on Broadway in the 1930’s). Amanda King also gave the audience something to cheer about with her renditions of “Love for Sale” and “It’s Too Darn Hot” two of Porter’s raciest tunes. “Too Darn Hot” was actually banned from radio airtime in its day. When King belts it out you can see why. Griffin’s band added to the overall excellence of the evening. Each one is a master of his instrument (or in some cases instruments). Percussionist, Roger Glenn, was sensational - playing drums, flute and the Cabaza; a handheld instrument from South America that looks like a fishing reel on steroids draped in steel Mardi-Gras beads, and sounds a little like a snake. He is also a master at the African Girdo, a wooden instrument that resembles a large loaf of stale French bread but makes a washboard like sound when adeptly strummed with a cousin to a tuning fork. But it was Glenn’s vibe playing that helped to make the evening soar. There are vibes and there are VIBES, Glenn plays the latter. This was evident in the introductory number and throughout the evening. He comes by his talent naturally as the instrument he plays was also used by his father to accompany Louis Armstrong on a little song he recorded called “It’s a Wonderful World.” It was certainly a wonderful world on Saturday night. West Marin owes a big vote of thanks to Ed and Bambi Schwartz, who underwrote the show.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 20:55:45 +0000
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