Maye Cavallaro: Empress Theatre
Maye Cavallaro
Empress Theatre, Vallejo, CA, November 16, 2014
Reviewed by Steve Murray for Cabaret Scenes
Maye Cavallaro is a well-kept jazz secret here in the Bay Area due to her limited performance schedule, but based on her considerable concert skills, she should get out more often. Sailing through a swing version of “I’m Just a Lucky So and So,” she is always in total control of her lyrics, delivering each selection with a clear, warm, husky alto. Supported by local jazz luminaries Larry Dunlap on piano, Ruth Davies on bass, Dave Rokeach on drums and Noel Jewkes on sax and clarinet, Cavallaro takes a dreamy arrangement of Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke’s much-recorded “But Beautiful” and delivers the mood of the ballad perfectly.
Introducing percussionist Ian Dogole to accompany her on “That’s All” was a revelation. His unique African rhythms, played on an African Talking Drum, and Maye’s striking vocal lifts the standard to a whole new level. He again joins her on the hang (pronounced “hung”), a metal pan instrument that sounds like a xylophone, on a heartbreaking “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” It segues into “The Water Is Wide”/“Little Girl Blue”—very smart choices made by someone who might teach jazz, as Maye does at the prestigious Berkeley Jazz School.
“The Way You look Tonight” allows the band to flex its considerable muscle. Cavallaro then surprises with an inventive arrangement of the old chestnut “Hey There,” turning the classic on its ear with chord inversions and modern jazz phrasing. Jesse Barish’s “Hearts” (“Is Everything Alright?”), a 1981 hit for Marty Balin, is now owned solely by Cavallaro, who, along with Dogole’s complex Middle Eastern/African beats, elevates the pop tune to a stunning modern standard.
Category: Cabaret Reviews, San Francisco, San Francisco Cabaret Reviews
