Teresa Eggersten Cooke: Live at the Metropolitan Room
Teresa Eggersten Cooke
Live at Metropolitan Room
December 9, 2014
Reviewed by Alix Cohen for Cabaret Scenes
Singer/pianist Teresa Eggertsen Cooke has the kind of mid-range-folk-straddles-rock voice we lived for in the seventies. It’s grounded with a face to the wind; authentic, unfussy, authoritative. Occasionally one hears jazz inflection, though blues, I think, are more her territory.
When she kicks in with the terrific “End of the Innocence” (Bruce Hornsby/Don Henley)—“one of my favorite songs”—we know the lady’s home. Declaratory phrasing feels effortlessly on target. “This is the end of the innocence/O’ beautiful, for spacious skies/But now those skies are threatening/They’re beating plowshares into swords…” The song has gravitas without becoming weighty. Eggersten Cooke creates sufficient momentum/ flow that we don’t notice a lack of rhymes on which many singers stumble. She instinctively knows when to pull in. Piano arrangement is lovely. A prayer-like “The Last Day” (Brenda Russell/ John Ewbank) and a plaintive “Wish You Were Here” (Roger Waters/David Gilmour) follow suit with rhythmic finesse and an ear to communication.
Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” is framed with affectionate familiarity—dropping Gs, clipping some notes with pinking shears, pulling others like taffy, adding syllables. It’s blues. “Let My Love Open the Door” (Pete Townshend) and “Don’t Cry Out Loud” (Peter Allen/Carole Bayer Sager) are next, the latter with a lovely, articulated instrumental. Eggersten Cooke neither patronizes the often lyrically simpler past, nor does she contemporize it. Straight from the hip these were written, straight from the hip they’re performed. “I Am… I Said” (Neil Diamond) is a great example of this, a wound couched in textural chords.
It’s not until we reach the fourth song on this CD, however, that the artist’s talent comes across. Most American Songbook choices are interpreted with like-sounding piano accompaniment, oddly similar phrasing, and less confident vocals as if trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Ben Lepley’s trombone is a singular exception. Later, this occurs with more of the same genre. An exception is the disc’s last song, Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns,” which Eggersten Cooke makes her own.
Editor’s Note: Teresa is appearing in the holiday performance of Joy! at the Metropolitan Room on Saturday, December 13, 2014 at 4 PM, with proceeds going to Road Recovery, the 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to children battling addiction through music.
Category: Music, Music Reviews, New York City, New York City Music Reviews
