Live Review: JANIS SIEGEL At Vitello’s in Studio City, Janis - TopicsExpress

Live Review: JANIS SIEGEL At Vitello’s in Studio City, Janis Siegel put on a performance that can only be called remarkable. Famous for her more than 40 years as a member of the Manhattan Transfer (the three other singers from the group were all in the audience that night), Ms. Siegel has also had an important solo career. Not only is she a superb singer but she learned long ago how to plan a set filled with mood variations, pacing and lots of variety. Joined by pianist John DiMartino, bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer Steve Haas, she started off with a funky version of Billy Strayhorn’s “A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing,” Ann Hampton Callaway’s “Secret Pleasure” and Jobim’s “Distant Landscape.” On the latter, Kozlov managed to emulate an acoustic guitar on his electric bass. Siegel’s scatting was outstanding, but just a warmup. She sang her lyrics to Bob Belden’s “Sweet September Rain,” displaying a lovely voice and masterful ballad singing. On an uptempo version of Clifford Brown’s “Joy Spring,” the first chorus hinted strongly at classical music (with Kozlov bowing his bass) before Siegel flawlessly sang the vocalese lyrics to Clifford Brown’s recorded solo. She followed that up with a very effective Cuban bolero. Tierney Sutton was called up as a guest and she surprised everyone (including Siegel) by singing eight bars of “The Girl From Ipanema” in Russian! After that brief but hilarious interlude, the two singers (as a trio with Kozlov’s bass) interacted on a memorable version of “You Don’t Know What Love Is,” scatting together and harmonizing very well. Songwriter-producer Leon Ware guested on “Why I Came To California,” a song that he and Siegel recorded many years ago but had never sung together in public before. Janis Siegel also performed a fresh version of “Minnie The Moocher” which included some new lyrics that summed up all of Minnie’s life, saying “Poor Minnie, she had so many problems through the years!” It is a pity that this set was not filmed for all vocalists, especially younger ones, could learn a great deal by seeing Janis Siegel’s outstanding performance. Scott Yanow (scottyanow) Author of 11 books on jazz and contributor to 4 jazz magazines.

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