Gregory Charles: VintageLive
Gregory Charles
VintageLive
Le Qube Theater, NYC, April 8, 2015
Reviewed by Joel Benjamin for Cabaret Scenes
At the foot of West 57th Street is a new performing venue, Le Qube Theater, where Gregory Charles, an extraordinarily adept and adaptable singer/band leader is holding forth with his equally—sometimes astonishingly—talented band. VintageLive is totally interactive. Charles takes requests via an App and written suggestions.
From a glitzy, glowing-red grand piano equipped with computer screens, Charles tore through an impressive repertoire, beginning with a wild “You Shook Me All Night Long” (Muddy Waters via AC/DC) and mostly featuring rock songs. Although he declared himself “unrehearsed and unprepared,” his encyclopedic knowledge of the repertoire and the nuts and bolts of music belied that statement. With just a few hand gestures and called out chord progressions, he managed to get thrilling playing from his seven-member band, and his intensely charismatic singing colleague, Kim Richardson.
They dashed through “Gimme Shelter” (Jagger/Richards) and performed both a spiritual and blues version of Bobby Hebb’s classic “Sunny,” which featured a moaning saxophone solo by Richard Beaudet. “Kiss” (Prince) gave Danny Ranallo a twangy guitar solo, while Jean-François Gagnon’s flugelhorn solo wittily matched Chuck Mangione’s own in “Feels So Good.”
The two-hour-plus show included a visit to the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (Lennon/McCartney), early rock & roll’s “Shake, Rattle and Roll” (Charles E. Calhoun), musical comedy’s “Hello, Dolly!” (Herman via Armstrong), with a short stop at operetta: the Lehar/Löhner-Beda “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz,” for which he had to go deep into his early classical training, coming up with a more than passable rendition.
The ensemble’s range was amazing and period perfect. That nine nimble musicians can be on the same wave length is a tribute to Charles’s authority and flair.
The rest of the band included Sylvain Bertrand on bass, Tony Albino on drums, Gabriel Gagnon-Bertrand on keyboards and Matthieu VanVliet on trombone.
VintageLive will in residence at the Le Qube Theater at least until May 2nd. lequbetheater.com
Category: Cabaret Reviews, New York City, New York City Cabaret Reviews
