Reviewed by Joe Regan Jr.
Skilled jazz vocalist Rebecca Kilgore has chosen to entitle her new show at Feinstein’s at Loews Regency “The Jazzy Side of Judy Garland.” Kilgore appears with her long time music director handsome Harry Allen on the tenor saxophone, and his great Harry Allen Quartet featuring the brilliant Rossano Sportiello on piano, Joel Forbes on bass, and Chuck Riggs on drums and percussion.
As she admits after the first number, a wild arrangement of “The Sweetest Sounds,” you wouldn’t ordinarily think of Garland as a jazz singer but then what is the definition of jazz? Garland sang with many great jazz musicians and “The Sweetest Sounds” (Richard Rodgers) from No Strings, was sung by Garland with Count Basie on the piano on her CBS TV series, and after Allen does a wild improvisation on his saxophone, the astonishing Sportiello does a mind-boggling riff in the Basie style on the piano.
Kilgore, looking very glamorous with her short platinum hair and black laced short skirted dress, dangling glittering hoop earrings, and sexy high heeled new shoes, (dressing the way a star performer should dress) tells how sixteen year old Garland was groomed for MGM stardom after her studio friend, Roger Edens, wrote a special verse to “You Made Me Love You” for Clark Gable’s birthday party at the studio. Louis B. Mayer, the legendary star maker at MGM, saw this and put it in “The Broadway Melody of 1938.” Kilgore, in her purest tones, sings that verse simply, with only Forbes on bass softly accompanying her. Then, on the familiar chorus, Kilgore breaks out in a wild, loud jazzy vocal supported by that great quartet.
Another Edens arrangement of the Martin-Blane song from “As Thousands Cheer,” was set up as Garland instructing classical pianist Jose Iturbi on how to swing a master list of classical composers, “The Joint Is Really Jumping At Carnegie Hall.” Kilgore has no trouble at all rocking that song with its tongue twisting lyrics and there is great joy in the room at her show stopping performance, again with the quartet sounding like a much larger brass orchestra!
At 22 Garland met Vincente Minnelli, who became her second husband and made her look so beautiful in “Meet Me In St. Louis.” From that landmark film, Kilgore sings the verse to “The Boy Next Store” very purely, and then swings the familiar chorus. She then also does a second long verse, one I don’t think I have ever heard before, but it is heartbreaking in its narrative and it is followed by a different chorus which is also rueful and this performance is another reason everyone should see this extraordinary tribute show. Of course, there is a fast and wild “Trolley Song,” and then a beautiful ballad from her last MGM film, Harry Warren and Mack Gordon’s “Evening Star” from “Summer Stock.”
To change the pace, Kilgore does a fast version of a song that was cut from “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Jitterbug.” After this, Allen leads his quartet in a wild medley of the other songs from that movie classic, including “Over the Rainbow” and “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead.”
Peggy Lee also appeared on Garland’s TV show, and at one point they confessed they were both enamored with men! Lee’s song, which she wrote with Jack Marshall, was entitled “I Like Men” which Kilgore sings as a solo, and it is a catalogue of all the men’s names that she loves and it builds right into “I’m Just Wild About Harry,” which Kilgore directs right at Allen as he creates a big jazz riff on his sax!
It is difficult for anyone to sing “The Man That Got Away,” Garland’s great signature song from “A Star Is Born.” Kilgore begins it softly, with only piano accompaniment, as Allen’s quartet wails on the riff until Kilgore comes back with the lyric “good riddance, goodbye” and rides the familiar melody to a great finish.
For her finale, Kilgore takes the original Edens’ song written for Garland’s triumphant return to the Palace “Until You’ve Played the Palace,” and sings it all out, with all the emotional strength of Garland, but she changes the lyric to “Until you’ve played Feinstein’s” doing a tribute to Feinstein’s great room.
Don’t miss Kilgore‘s show. It’s every bit as good as her last show at Feinstein’s, the Marilyn Monroe tribute “Some Like It Hot,” which is now available on CD with the same great musicians,
Rebecca Kilgore’s “The Jazzy Side of Judy Garland” continues at Feinstein’s at the Loews Regency, 540 Park Avenue at 61st Street, at 8 PM every night until Saturday August 11th. The performances have a $30.00 cover in addition to a $25.00 food and beverage minimum. The food and the drinks are very good. For reservations and club information call (212) 339-4095) or online at www.Feinsteinsatloewsregency.com and TicketWeb.com
Posted by Sandi Durell
on August 2, 2012. Filed under Cabaret,Cabaret and Interviews - Sandi Durell,COLUMNS,ENTERTAIMENT.
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